Lyrical Blood
by LyricalRose
Summary: Lyric Hume divides her time between playing the perfect daughter, and a cold blooded killer and debt collector. Why? To protect her family from her twin's mistakes. It's just a job, until one night. Now, Lyric and Billy are in for the ride of their lives.
1. What it Means to be a Darley

_**Chapter One: Learning What It Means To Be a Darley**_

Lyric tossed the wad of green bills onto the table in front of her boss, and muttered, "That's my night." The man looked up at her from his beer. She shrugged and motioned for him to count it. Setting down the beer on the table of the booth, he picked up the wad from off the red plastic table top, and quickly shuffled through it. Lyric gave her boss a once over for the billionth time in her two years of working for him. He kept his light brown hair shaved, a short kept mustache, a soul patch thing and a little beard on his chin kind of. The coal black ink of the tribal tattoo climbing his neck against his pale skin made it all the more menacing. She couldn't believe that she was stuck working for Billy Darley of all the people to be stuck working for. Her parents would have a coronary if they knew she was working for the king of thugs. Hell, she nearly did when she found out that her brother was into drugs, and building a debt the size of China. That was why she was working for this killer. She hated her fraternal twin brother Brendan most of the time, she thought he was so full of it, and a pain in her drop dead gorgeous ass, but she loved her mom and younger brother, Lucas, and occasionally Brendan and her dad. And she would protect them from the Darley's wrath no matter what the cost.

Billy's voice rang out, "This is it?" Lyric gave one nod, refusing to talk more than she had to around the oldest Darley son just because she knew it drove him crazy. The brunette haired girl caught him giving her a glance over and she smirked to herself. She knew she was hot, and she flaunted it whenever she got the chance. Finally, Billy sighed and said, "Sit down." If it had been eighteen months before, Lyric would have slugged him in the jaw right there and then. But she had learned what happens when you did that, and that was why she slouched in her place in the booth of Four Roses. She yawned to show her boredom and disinterest but kept her eyes on the boss. He took another swig of his beer, then called out to the waitress passing, "Can we get a round of JD here?" The blond gave a flirty look and nodded. As Lyric rolled her eyes, Billy sat up more, and commented, "It's a shame your seventeen, kid." Her cerulean eyes glimmered at the knowledge she had turned eighteen three nights ago, but she kept her mouth shut, already aware of what Billy meant by his crude remark. As the trashy blond brought over the drinks she paused at Lyric and asked, "Are you even legal?" Billy chuckled in amusement at what he thought was the answer to that question, but Lyric answered coolly and smoothly, "Eighteen. Since they're drinking, I'll pass. And you might wanna go dye your roots, because they're showing."

The faux blonde's jaw dropped, and Lyric smirked in triumph as the waitress stormed away. Billy slid a glass to her, and toasted, "To the new girl- I mean woman." Lyric internally groaned as she knew the remarks coming, and just sat there ready to bear it. Bodie corrected, "Hey, she's no woman till she's fucked with a real man." Lyric downed her shot without flinching, grabbed Heco's, who was sitting next to her, downed that with a straight face, then retorted, "So that knocks all you losers out of the picture." They fell into silence, and Lyric watched as Billy turned red. The pale girl stood up told her boss, "I gotta go. Call if you fuckers get so god damn drunk you can't drive. I'd hate to see those beautiful Mustangs dented." With that, Lyric grabbed Billy's shot and downed it just as fast as the two before, and headed for and out the door before she had to see Billy's reaction to her stealing his drink and insulting him. She climbed in her own Mustang that she had been forced to take to Bones' Body shop to get the tribal sign done on the front of the car like the other two Mustangs that belonged to the gang. But the design wasn't half bad, and when her parents had asked, she told them it was just a whim, and Brendan had nearly passed out. Lyric flipped on the radio and started signing to 'Getting Away With Murder' by Papa Roach.

Her headache was fading as she put distance between herself and the Four Roses bar. She was about a half an hour from home, which was just another pain for her, and yet another thing she hated Brendan for. Lyric went silent at the thought of her twin sibling. He was the family Golden Boy, and that just made it all the harder for her to gain her father's attention, but she still managed to. Grabbing her phone, she dialed the familiar number of her father, and listened to it ring, until he picked up, yelling at her frantically, "Lyric where are you?" The sound of her father's voice comforted her, and she told him smoothly, "I'm heading home right now, Daddy. I was getting Luke's birthday present. I've been driving for hours looking for a place that had it." She could hear her mom asking her dad what Lyric was saying, and Lucas asking if she was still in one piece. Finally her father said tiredly, "Well, just get home soon. We've been worried sick about you sweet heart. Is Brendan with you too?" A frown crawled to Lyric's pretty face and she replied slowly, "No, he said his friend Mi- dammit, I know where he is. I'm going to grab him right now. Be home in an hour or so." With that, Lyric hung up and tossed her phone in the passenger's seat. She couldn't believe that she had been so stupid and simply taken the 'Mike's giving me a lift home today' excuse without even thinking that Mike was the one who drove her tweak of a brother to get his drugs.

Lyric made a sharp turn and sped up, heading back toward the corner she knew Heco worked. It was twenty minutes before the pale eighteen year old pulled up alongside her brother, who looked completely out of place in the projects of Boston. Rolling down the window of the passenger side, she barked at him, "Get in the car, ice head! Now!" Brendan Hume jumped in surprise but stuttered, "I-I'm supposed to pay a guy." In annoyance, she yelled, "Give it to me! I'll pay your damn drug dealer. I know where the fucker is right now anyway." Brendan looked like a whipped dog, and climbed into the car, handing his sister her phone, which she snatched from him harshly, acting more like the Lyric Hume the streets of Boston knew rather than the gentle and sweet Lyric her family knew. The instant Brendan closed the door of her car, she peeled out, and headed toward the bar she had just left. The brother and sister sat in silence, until the dark brown haired hockey player asked, "How'd you know?" For a moment, Lyric softened up, and she told him, "I'm your twin sister, you dummy. Anyway, I'll go pay your dealer for you. You stay in the car. You do not touch anything in my car, got it?" As she pulled up illegally in front of the bar, Brendan held up a few bills folded neatly, and she grabbed it from him quickly, and then slammed her door closed as she got out. Taking a deep breath, Lyric walked back into Four Roses and easily spotted her boss and his cronies.

Billy looked over at her and all the talking between the gang ceased. Tossing the folded bills down at no one in particular, she said dryly, "From my brother." Billy grabbed it and counted then said, "Whatever. Sit down. Now." Lyric looked back at the door and defied Billy, "I have something I have to do." Lyric backed up a couple inches, but Billy stood up and grabbed her by her shoulder, growling, "Sit your ass down." As she looked around and saw that Billy's boys were waiting for her to make a wrong move, she figured she had no choice, and took a seat next to Heco again. Billy slouched in his seat and took the final sip of his beer, and finally told Lyric, "You've proved your good, kid. You bring in cash, weapons, and you know how to make a deal, whatever we tell you to. You're smart for eighteen." Lyric did not like where the conversation was going, and her eyes kept shifting to the door. Billy seemed to notice, but ignored it and continued, "Now, we don't usually do this, but we're offering you an in. No blood required." It stunned Lyric, that the toughest, most powerful gang in Boston was offering her a position without having to kill first. Glancing at the clock, Lyric stood up and said quickly, "Alright, I'm in." And with that, Lyric practically sprinted out of the bar and quickly slid into the driver's seat in her car, and left as quickly as she could. Brendan looked over at her and asked, "What has you so spooked?"

Lyric reached over and smacked Brendan in the arm, and yelled, "Shut up, Brendan!" Of course, her brother was stupid and pushed, "Did some guy hit on you or something, Ms. Prude?" Lyric screamed over her music, "Shut the fuck up Brendan! I get more action than you wish you could get!" Brendan scoffed and told her arrogantly, "Great, I have a slut for a sister." She slammed on the breaks and turned to her fraternal twin brother, then hissed at him, "I'm not a slut, you fucking meth head!" Gripping the steering wheel, she gave him a look that could kill even Billy Darley. Brendan gulped and Lyric hit the gas again, focusing on what was ahead of her. For the next half hour, the ride was completely silent, no radio or speaking. Just as Lyric was turning into her street, her phone began blaring 'Pain' by Three Days Grace, telling her that Billy was calling. Snatching the sleek phone out of her pocket she hit 'answer' and snapped, "What do you want now?" There was yelling and boisterous laughing in the back, but she could clearly hear him telling her, "Meet me at Four Roses tomorrow at eight AM. You're getting promoted from the street collections, kid." Scoffing, Lyric asked him, "What, now am I just collecting in the bar?" She knew she had stepped out of line when Billy yelled at her, "Just be here!" The line went dead and Lyric started swearing under her breath, shoving the phone back into her jacket pocket.

To put her mind at ease, Lyric leant over and yanked open her glove compartment, and revealed a sleek metal gun with the black engraving of the tribal mark on her car. Brendan gulped and asked his twin sister unsteadily, "What the hell is that, Lyric?" Jamming the glove compartment closed again, she told him stonily, "Forget it." Brendan frowned, and before he could push it, Lyric added, "You tell, and one of those bullets will end up in your leg." He nodded and went silent as Lyric pulled up opposite the house. They both got out, and Brendan closed his door, then ran across the street and began pounding on the door. Lyric went to her trunk and grabbed out a rectangular box that was wrapped up in an odd design, and jogged over to her house just as her mom was opening the door. She hugged Brendan and tried hugging Lyric best she could and asked them, "Where were you two?" Lyric answered first, "I was getting this," she motioned toward the box, "and getting off work for today. But I have to work tomorrow."

Lyric didn't wait to hear her brother's response, and strode into the kitchen where her dad and brother were seated at the island. Luke saw her first and she gave him a winning smile and half sung, "Happy birthday to you, we live in a zoo! Brendan looks like a monkey, and smells like one too!" Her dad gave her a disapproving look which she ignored and placed the big box in front of her little brother, gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, then rested her forehead on his and told him, "Love you Lucas." Lyric ruffled his hair a little, smiling and as her mom and brother walked in and the brunette dug into her pocket, then pulled out several big bills that were folded in half, held together by a green ribbon, and placed it in the fifteen year olds hand and said kindly, "Have fun with this, ya?" Lucas' eyes went and he gave his sister a huge hug and repeated, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Lyric laughed a bit and responded, "Your welcome, Lucas." Her dad raised his eyebrows and asked her, "How'd you get all that?" Glancing over at him, she just shrugged and said, "Work. I do have a job unlike Brendan you know." Before she could say of hear anything else, her phone began blaring 'Pain' again, and she groaned and muttered, "Hold on."

Lyric stepped outside and answered, "Can this wait? I'm in the middle of something." She was shifting on her feet, and glanced back through the window of the back door, seeing her parents and brothers talking, her dad occasionally looking over at her. Billy shot back, "Too damn bad. Time for you to learn what it means to be a Darley!" Lyric growled, "I never said I wanted to be a Darley. I'm stuck with you and your damn gang because my brother is a fucking meth head like Heco." The young woman was shocked to hear Billy laugh at her comment and he just told her, "Meet us at my apartment. Wear something that shows skin." A group of men's laughter broke out before the line cut off and Lyric stomped her foot like a two year old and shoved the phone back in her pocket, slamming the door behind her and ignoring her family as she jogged up the stairs, and into her room. She yanked out the drawer with her camisoles and bras, deciding on a lacy black bra that would drive any guy insane if he got the chance to see, and tossed the garment onto her partially made bed. She elbowed the drawer closed, then dropped into a crouching position, and pulled out the drawer that had all of her pants and shorts. Lyric was all for flaunting her body and then rubbing in Darley's face that he could look but not touch, but she was worried that Billy would prove he was stronger than her.

But there must have been a reason he said what he did, and so she grabbed a pair of cut off denim shorts and tossed them over with her bra. After going through a couple more drawers, Lyric had tossed over a white v-neck t-shirt and a pair of panties that matched her bra. While she was switching her bra, someone knocked on her door, and Brendan walked in. Looking over, she groaned and asked, "What do you want now, tweak?" Brendan tensed visibly but still answered, "Who was that? On the phone, I mean. Who called?" Lyric was thankful that she had already changed panties, and yanked the v-neck over her head, looking in the mirrored closet door and adjusting it a bit, before pulling on the cut offs, and replied, "That was my boss. I have to go to work to pay off your drug debts." Brendan's eyes went wide and he hissed at his twin sister, "You're hooking to pay my debts?" Lyric scoffed and grabbed her leather jacket, telling him honestly, "No you dumb ass. I'm just playing debt collector for the Darley's." Brendan partially blocked her door and said, "I'm not letting you leave." Lyric chuckled and slid past him, leaving her shocked brother in her room. As Lyric trouped down the stairs she detoured into the kitchen.

"Well, my working has been moved to tonight. I'll be home… no idea. But, Luke, I'll make it up to you tomorrow," Lyric said, while grabbing a soda out of the fridge. She then pressed a kiss to her dad's cheek, her mom's, and her little brother's forehead, and then finally yelled behind her as she left, "I love you guys! See you later!"


	2. Marked as a Darley

_**Chapter Two: Marked as a Darley**_

She pulled up outside Billy's apartment complex, and took a deep breath, finished the soda, placed the empty can in a plastic bag behind the passenger's seat, then got out, ignoring the looks she was getting, and made her way to the elevator. Riding up to the ninth floor, Lyric sighed as she remembered she had left her cell phone, iPod, and gun in the glove compartment out of habit. All three were where they were supposed to be, and as the doors slid open, she stepped out and walked as confidently as she could to her boss' apartment. She kept her hands in her pockets and kicked at the door with her shoe, not really caring if it pissed anyone off. Lyric wasn't in the greatest of moods, and it wasn't hard to tell. Baggy answered the door and let her in, closing the door behind her. In the living room, all of the guys were lounging on the couch, including Joe Darley, Billy's younger brother. Billy was still drinking, which didn't surprise Lyric one bit. It took a lot of alcohol to get Billy Darley drunk, and she was pretty sure he hadn't even gotten close to the amount that would cause him to be even a little buzzed, let alone drunk. Lyric stood their silently for a while, until Billy decided to recognize her and asked, "Ready to get marked?" Giving him a bored gaze, Lyric asked him blandly, "What does that even mean, Billy? I'm not exactly in the mood to guess right now." Billy stood up and in front of her towering a foot over her five foot two, and rumbled, "You're getting the tattoo we all have. Decide where you want it."

Lyric shrugged and acted as if she could care less outwardly, but inwardly she was jumping for joy. She had wanted to get another tattoo on her eighteenth birthday, but it hadn't happened. Now she had the perfect excuse to get another one. Billy took another swig momentarily, and then commanded loudly, "Let's go! Lyric give your keys to Bodie, you riding with me. No one damages her car, or goes through her stuff unless you want a bullet through the foot." Lyric refused to hand over the keys until Billy yanked them out of her hand and chucked them at Bodie who caught them painfully. Billy dragged Lyric out by her wrist until she pulled away and hissed, "I can walk of my own thanks. Why do I have to let Bodie drive my car anyway? Doesn't he have his own?" Billy pushed her in by her shoulder into the elevator and hit the 'L' button before telling her angrily, "I already told you your riding with me. Since when have you ever talked this much?" Lyric shut up, legitimately thinking about his question. She usually didn't talk much because it bugged the hell out of Billy, but that was when she was working for them to pay off Brendan's debts. Now she was a part of the gang, but she had joined just to get out of the bar without being shot. Lyric sighed silently at the conundrum. This tattoo was just going to keep her entwined with the gang, but nothing inside of her cramped or hurt from the thought.

The elevator door opened, and Lyric stepped in front of Billy, getting out first and waiting for him, quite aware of the fact that she had pissed him off greatly. Billy looked slightly red, but shoved her in the direction of the black Mustang, almost knocking her over. She had parked her own car behind the red one, and she glared as Bodie got into her baby. Billy laughed cruelly at her reaction and told her, "Get in the car. Bodie won't hurt your damn car Lyric." Lyric scowled and sulked into her seat, making Billy laugh even more as he peeled out and headed toward a part of the Projects Lyric had yet to see. After a minute, Lyric said randomly, "Upper back." Billy glanced over, and asked her, "What?" Pulling her hair out of the ponytail it was held up in, Lyric ran her fingers through her hair and explained, "I wanna get the tattoo on my upper back. I already have one on each side of my hip and," Lyric pulled off the black and white checked sweatband from her wrist, "twenty-nine stars around my wrist. So I'll get the tattoo on my upper back." The dirty blond replaced the sweatband on her wrist, but Billy stopped her and said, "You don't have to cover up." Lyric nodded and put the accessory in her pocket, tracing the stars on her wrist for a few moments, until Billy spoke up with a neutral tone, "Surprised a good girl like you has been inked." Lyric laughed and told him, "There's a lot you don't know about me Darley." He grinned and prodded, "Like what? You got an A minus and changed it to a plus?" She giggled and looked over, studying him in a new light.

He was different, now that she was one of them. Lyric leant back in her seat and began, "First tattoo was when I was fifteen, on the left side of my hip. Second was my sixteenth birthday, right side of my hip, and the stars were all on my seventeenth birthday." Billy questioned further, "What else? You can't just count ink, kid." Sitting up a bit, Lyric asked back, "Well, what else do you wanna know Darley?" He shrugged and more stated than asked, "Drinking?" Lyric counted on her finger tips then replied, "Like six, six and a half years." Billy laughed at the thought of a drunken twelve year old Lyric and then asked her his final question for the time being, "Sex?" Lyric smirked and said proudly, "Lost my virginity at twelve, haven't had a week since that I haven't fucked a guy at least once." Billy gave a low whistle and commented truthfully, "Damn you getting it more than I am. I gotta say, kid, I am impressed." Lyric grinned and just responded, "Hey, I can't help it if I have guys lined up night and day. I'm just drop dead gorgeous period. I bet I could find some poor tramp that would screw you weekly, though."

Billy rolled his eyes and replied sarcastically, "Thanks kid. Thank you so much." She shrugged and defended, "I'm just saying." He shrugged back and questioned, "So which is an act? The whole daddy's little girl, goody-two-shoes Lyric, or the vicious debt collecting, point blank shooting Lyric?" Lyric opened her mouth to answer, but then closed it, realizing she had no idea. She had grown so accustomed to putting on an act at school and at home for her family, and when she was given the opportunity to hit the streets, she didn't even know that she could shoot a gun point blank without trying, or be so heartless to strangers. Her partying and drinking always seemed to be her break, and she always just considered it a hidden part, nothing important. But she liked that life so much better; she loved the pleasure of sex, the taste of alcohol, the look of tattoos, and now the adrenaline of the streets. Being valedictorian and the twin of Brendan Hume, it was just a façade, forcing herself to act a certain way daily.

"Well?" Lyric snapped out of her thoughts to look at him and she sighed, "I guess the goody-two-shoes is an act. I got so used to playing that every day, and my partying was just my little escape that I got once or so a week, it seemed like that was the act. But I think that I like fucking and drinking more." Billy burst out laughing loudly, and Lyric simply settled into her seat. She wasn't uneasy or annoyed anymore; she was content with this life. But the reminder she had to play good girl all over again the next day just made her angry. The rest of the ride was silent, until they pulled up in front of a tattoo shop. The other two cars were close behind, and Lyric got out and yelled, "Bodie I swear my car better be the same way I left it!" Bodie and the three that rode with him, Baggy, Jamie, and Tommy, just ignored her and the ten walked in. Billy lit up a cigarette and called out, "Yo, Andy!" A man walked out of the back, covered in tattoos and piercings, and replied, "Hey Billy, what's up man?"

Lyric watched as they talked to themselves and after a minute, Lyric stole the cigarette's and lighter out of Billy's pocket without him knowing it at all, then lit one up, and replaced the pack and lighter back in a different pocket. Bodie whispered, "Damn. You've got some skills, Lyric." She grinned and blew the smoke out her mouth, then lent on the wall covered in artwork. Billy finally turned around and caught sight of the newly lit cig held lightly between Lyric's plump red lips and asked, "Where'd you get that?" Holding it between two fingers for a moment, she blew out more smoke and replied smartly, "From you." Everyone except Billy, Andy, and Lyric burst out laughing as they knew what she meant. Billy went to get his pack of cigs, and found they were gone then began searching the other pockets of his jeans and brown leather jacket, then finally found them in a pocket of his jacket.

Lyric stomped out the cig and changed the subject, "So can I get my ink yet?" Andy nodded and waved her back to the very back of the shop, and she was surprised to see that all nine members of the gang were following her, but she ignored it. Andy asked her, "Where do you want it and which tribal design?" When Andy asked which one, all nine proceeded to show theirs. Bodie lifted his chin a bit to show it down his neck, Heco pulled off his shirt and turned to show the one taking up most his back, Jamie turned to the side to show the one on the side of his head, Tommy and Dog took off their jackets to show it on Tommy's left arm and Dog's right, then Spink showed his on his leg, Baggy's on his right side, Joe's on his left side, and Billy's covered his entire torso.

Lyric felt a bit of warmth in her lower stomach glancing at Billy's toned body. Finally she made herself pull her eyes away and quickly studied the other's ink, and lastly Billy's ink. She spent longest observing his because he both had the most and she enjoyed his body best. After a minute, she found a longer narrow section on the gang lord's lower inner right and said, "I like this design." Her delicate finger traced over it and Andy chuckled and nodded, motioning for the others to leave and Billy sat on a chair. After Andy traced the ink on his arm quickly, he told Lyric, "Alright, you have to take your shirt off, and the straps of your bra. I think you probably need to unhook it too." Lyric saw no problem, but Billy seemed tense and angry.

Before her boss could protest, Lyric pulled the sheer white shirt over her head and smirked as both men's jaws dropped to the ground. She smirked slightly but snapped her fingers and asked, "You wouldn't happen to have a _female_ tattoo artist on staff would you? I'd rather not risk you messing up." Andy nodded and yelled, "Maddie!" A blonde-ish haired woman came out of a doorway and leant against it and gave a wolf whistle then said, "Alright, alright. Andy, out front. Billy, good to see you, but get out." Lyric laughed as Maddie shooed them out of the back room, then turned and said, "Well, I'm Maddie. I'm not gay, so don't take this the wrong way when I say damn, your hot!" Lyric laughed harder and shook her hand, replying finally, "Not taken the wrong way at all, considering I flaunt my hotness all the time. I'm Lyric." Maddie smiled and told her, "Very awesome name. Ok, so bra straps and hook need to go. Want help?" Lyric grinned back and held the front of her bra over her breasts as Maddie unhooked it, then slipped each arm out of the strap.

Maddie transferred the stencil to Lyric's upper back, then informed her, "Because Billy is, well, he's just Billy. He'll say okay, then I'll get started with it." Lyric nodded and Maddie poked her head out and yelled for Billy. Lyric pulled her hair up and turned so her back was facing the door frame Billy walked in from. Maddie leant on the wall and asked a frozen Billy Darley, "May I start or are you going to nit pick Andy's tracing skills?" Billy just waved his hand and walked back out to the front. The two girls laughed and Lyric asked, "Could you please pull my hair up?" The dirty blond felt the inker pulling it and tying it up on the top of her head. Forty minutes later, Maddie was almost entirely done with the tattoo and both were laughing and simply talking about whatever they could think of. While Maddie got more ink, Lyric shifted and asked her, "So, what's the deal with Billy?" Maddie went back to working on the tribal design and said slowly, "Well, he's not as tough as he pretends to be." Lyric tugged at her bra a bit and dug, "What exactly does that mean? He seems pretty damn tough to me." Maddie shrugged and continued, "He is, but he doesn't let emotion show. Like when his mom left, Joe was confused and sad, but Billy stayed hard and cold for Joe. Won't get a steady girl either. Just a quick fuck, nothing over a one night, two nights tops. But, he is good at running the streets. Protects people he cares for, won't let people disrespect him, puts his guys were the fit best. What about you? What do you think of him? Alright all done."

Getting up, Lyric let Maddie hook her bra again, but before she could put her t-shirt back on, Maddie handed her a thin black camisole, telling her, "You're best off not putting anything over it or a few hours. I wouldn't suggest laying down or leaning on it." She accepted the top and the tattoo artist pushed, "You never answered my question." Lyric shrugged and replied, "He's my boss. I respect him for his position and the fact he could break my neck." Maddie shook her head and explained, "No, not like that. Why did you accept his offer, to join? It can't just be because of that? You have to at least like him a little bit." She yanked the hair tie out of her hair, letting the light brown locks cascade down her back, then answered, "I was just trying to get out of the bar at the time, but I guess I tolerate him. I like living like this, but I usually only get a Saturday night to party and get a good fuck in, before going back to being the perfect little daughter. It'll take a little getting used to not having to wait for the weekend, though, and more practice of not wanting to punch Billy face in, but I'll adjust." Maddie sighed then said bluntly, "I've known Billy for years. So I don't have to ask him what he's thinking to much. But I don't know you. Like you said, you know your hot, and so does everyone else, but that means I can't tell if you are just teasing or if you might really care. Do you like Billy or were you just teasing him?" Lyric blinked then shrugged and looked at her feet, thinking about it. He was handsome, no question, but the entire two years she had been working for him, she had only seen him as a thug that her brother owed money to. But now things would change. She was a part of the gang, not just a temporary collector anymore, a permanent member.

"Let me," Maddie interrupted her thoughts, "ask you this: at any point in the past however long you've known him, have you ever gotten turned on by him and how?" Lyric felt heat rise in her cheeks, but she shifted the weight on her hips and admitted, "Anytime he grabs me, shoves me, or drags me." Maddie gaped at her and questioned incredulously, "So when he's being rough, you get horny? You do realize that's called being 'masochistic' right?" It was the debt collector's turn to shrug and she muttered a 'yeah'. Before either could say anything else Billy walked back and said coldly, "Move your ass, kid. We're leaving!" Lyric turned and placed her hands on her hip, still only in an almost sheer black laced bra and argued, "Well, I have to put a shirt on first, and I have to get home because it's a fucking school night, Billy." Maddie sat on a stool and watched as Billy yelled back, "You'll leave when I say you'll leave!" Lyric growled, "You can't tell me what do to! You don't own me!" Billy shot his arm out and grabbed her shoulder in an agonizingly painful grip, then said in one of the cruelest voices Maddie and Lyric had ever heard, "You do what I tell you to. That mark on your back proves that I _do _own you. So move that nice ass of yours or I will." Maddie pressed her hands over her mouth as she held in laughter and Lyric chewed her lower lip, debating her response. Billy did not wait for one, and moved his grip to the back of her neck, pushing her ahead of him, but she dug her feet into the ground, arching her back to push against the force and in pleasure, and yelped at him, "I need to put a fucking shirt on, Darley! I am not walking out in my bra!" He let go and ordered lowly, "Put it on then." Lyric and Maddie glanced at each other, and Maddie just shook her head, telling Lyric not to argue anymore, and she didn't, pulling the paper thin shirt over her upper body, being careful with the fresh tattoo on her back. Billy yanked her wrist, forcing her out of the back room.


	3. Life Outside the Darley's

_**Chapter Three: Life Outside The Darleys**_

The newly inked girl sat in the passenger seat of Billy car once more, her arms wrapped around her bare shoulders, her pale body lent forward in protection of her tattoo. Neither spoke to each other, Billy in a bad mood and Lyric just not in the mood to talk. Soon, the three Mustangs pulled up in the parking structure of Billy's apartment building, and Lyric was the first one out, yelling at Bodie, "Give me my fucking keys!" Bodie tossed them to her, but out of nowhere, Billy intercepted them and said, "You get these when I say you do." Lyric scoffed, "I get them when I want to leave, which is now. I have school tomorrow." She lunged to grab her keys from her boss' hand, but he moved and let Lyric go sprawling onto the ground. The eighteen year old scrambled up and glared at the back of Billy's shaved head but followed him, mixed into the pack, trudging in between Dog and Spink. As they began piling into the elevator, Lyric was shoved back and back until she realized that she wouldn't fit into the lift. Billy smirked and told her, "Start walking, kid. You have nine flights of stairs." As the doors slid close, Lyric shrieked and flipped them off, before storming back out to the parking garage, satisfied to hear Billy realizing she was leaving and him yelling them to stop her. But the doors closed before any of them could get out.

The real keys that she had stored in a little cove Lyric had put in herself was removed to allow her into her car, and she pulled out of the well known structure, and hit the gas speeding down the deserted streets of the projects, but as soon as she hit the streets of the middle and upper class, Lyric was forced to drift in between Mercedes, Bentleys, and BMW's. She pulled out in front of her house in record time, jumping out then hurrying back to her trunk to pull out a random sweatshirt, pulling it over and flinching in pain as it hit the Darley mark. But she slammed the trunk closed, locked her prized car, then jogged up to the door of her house, thankful that she had picked up the habit of only using faux keys while working with Billy. Glancing back at her car, Lyric unlocked the door of her house and slipped in, then locked it again. She tip-toed upstairs and peeked into her mom and dad's room, seeing them soundly asleep. Lyric repeated the process with her brothers, both of whom were asleep and finally crept into her own room. The front of her body met her bed as she dropped onto it, burying her face into her pillow. The past eighteen hours were catching up with her, and soon the dirty blonde was fast asleep on top of her comforter still in her jean shorts and borrowed black tank.

Lyric was waken up to a stinging pain in her upper back, making her hiss in agitation, "What the fuck?" A woman scolded, "Language, sweetie." Her blue eyes flickered open and she groaned, "Sorry, Ma. What time is it?" Helen Hume sighed, but told her daughter, "It's seven thirty. You need to get up." And with that, Helen left her daughters room, allowing Lyric to yank the sweatshirt off over her head and begin changing. Soon, she was standing in front of her mirrored closet door in a white short-sleeved, collared, button up shirt, a black and red plaid skirt, and black knee socks with black flats. She stared at herself for a moment, frowning slightly as Billy's words 'daddy's little girl, goody-two-shoes' as they ran through her head. The checkered wrist band was hiding the black and red stars on her wrist; she planned on wearing her school jacket to hide the fresh Darley mark that showed through her thin shirt, the pale pink baby handprints on each side of hips hidden by the skirt. Her thoughts were interrupted by her brother Lucas walking in and asking, "Can we leave yet? I know you don't have a second period, but I do." Lyric glanced over and smiled, nodded, then grabbed her black blazer and black tie and followed her brother out, snagging her keys off the key rack as she walked out of the house, waving bye to her parents. Brendan had settled nervously into the front seat and Lucas made himself at home in the back.

As she pulled away from the curb, she leant over and slipped her cell phone out of the glove compartment, checking and seeing she had nineteen texts from her gang, and multiple missed calls from mainly the one and only Billy. Lyric groaned but began clicking through the texts, most of them along the lines of 'where the fucking hell are you' and 'Billy is fucking pissed' but there was one from both Jamie and Tommy that just asked for her to call one of them quickly. Dialing Jamie's familiar number, she told her to talkative brothers, "Shut up, I have to talk to people about work!" After a couple of rings, Jamie answered, "Yeah?" She rolled her eyes and asked back at him, "Why was I supposed to call you? Cause I apparently have to answer to the boss man about ditching last night." Jamie chuckled and replied, "Yeah I know. But Billy is not here right now. So I get the pleasure of talking to you." Lyric laughed a bit and tossed at him, "Oh really? What's up though?" His response was, "Just wanted to make sure you were good. You must have been fucking pissed to straight out disobey Billy like that, kid!" Grinning, Lyric pulled up in a space at school and waved her brothers out, before backing out and heading toward the Projects. With a slight hint of pride, Lyric told Jamie, "I didn't want to walk nine floors just because you guys are so damn rude. Listen, I gotta go. Call you later, Jamie." She didn't wait for her fellow gang member's response before hanging up and tossing her cell phone in the empty passenger seat. Lyric wasn't dumb; she had remembered that she was still had to meet her boss at the bar to get 'promoted'. The pale girl pulled up in front of Four Roses and behind Billy's car within a half hour, about twenty minutes late. She grabbed her cell phone, got out, locked her car, and then walked into Four Roses as she placed both keys and phone in her jacket pockets. The bar was nearly deserted, except for Billy, who was his usual spot in the usual booth, and Rico the bartender. Billy looked pissed as always and Lyric could only guess her being late and walking out last night just gave more fuel to the fire.

She slid into the seat across from Billy and informed him, "I have fourth period in two hours. Meaning you only get me for about an hour and twenty minutes." He scowled at her and told her venomously, "I get you for however fucking long I need you." Lyric held her tongue and followed him as he got up and walked out of the bar and out to his car. Billy shoved Lyric in the direction of his car when she strayed toward her own Mustang, telling her coolly, "Not on your life. Get in the god damn car, kid." Despite the fact that she hated listening to authority, the gun in the waistband of Billy's jeans stopped her rebellion and she did as she was told, wanting to punch the smirk off of Billy's face. The ride was silent, neither even so much as looking at each other while Billy sped through his streets. Lyric was discreetly holding onto whatever she could, and praying that Billy didn't crash. Finally, he jolted to a stop in front of a shop that Lyric vaguely remembered as Bones' Body shop. The dilapidated sign confirmed her memory and she followed Billy in. He stopped abruptly in front of her, turned, and jammed a heavy stack of green bills into her hand and commanded quietly, "After I give him my night, you give him this and say it was yours." The younger girl didn't get a chance to ask, as Billy gently nudged her into the shop, then walking in front of her and guiding her into the back. A sweaty, over weight man sat at an old desk, writing unknown characters on papers with no meaning or concern to Lyric. She recognized him as Bones and watched cautiously as Billy tensed when the brown haired man looked up at both of them. All three kept a solid, stone hearted face, and Billy was first to toss a canvas back pack onto Bones' desk, making a heavy thud. Bones grabbed it without removing his eyes from either person in front of him, but looked into the bag and pulled out nine or ten thick stacks of bills, each with a money wrapper around it and a name of a gang member scrawled across it.

Bones took his time of slowly thumbing through the cash, taking at least ten minutes to make it through four of them. Finally he looked back up at Lyric directly, and she chucked it angrily at him, watching as he caught it in surprise, glaring at her as the inch thick stack smacked loudly against his pudgy hands. Billy flicked his eyes over to her and saw the agitated expression on her pretty face, and Bones counted through her money, then finally spoke, "And who the fuck are you? Obviously you do better than most of Billy's mother fucking friends." Lyric shrugged and stayed silent, glancing at the clock and realizing she had five minutes to get back to her car. Billy told his dad dully, "New collector." She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted on her feet impatiently, glaring squarely at Bones Darley. Bones gave a grunt then told them both, "Yes, you may get the hell out of my sight." He went back to working and Billy shoved Lyric in the direction they had come. Catching herself, she growled at Billy, "Don't fucking touch me." Bones' eyes came up from his papers to see the new girl shove Billy, making his son take a step back. Billy seethed at her, "Don't fucking tell me what to do!" With that, his fist clamped around her hair and he yanked her outside and threw her towards his car, yelling at her, "Get in!" Lyric defied, "No! I'm not some lackey you can order and throw around! I do whatever the fuck I want!" With that, Lyric sprinted in the direction of the bar, thankful that it was a straight shot with only a turn. Billy didn't follow her and she got back to her car in one piece.

Sitting at a light a few minutes away from the bar, Lyric saw she had a text from an unknown number, her mother, and Lucas. Her mother had texted: _Come to my office when you get to school. –Mom._ Lucas had texted her: _Brendan told mom something. She looked mad. Hide anything in car she plans on searching it and I think locker too–Luke_. Lyric let out an infuriated sigh, and then looked at her last new message: _It's Maddie. Got number out of Spink_. Lyric smiled slightly at Maddie's message and saved the number, then deleted her mother and brothers messages. The light turned green, and Lyric hit the gas, but leant over and clicked open her glove compartment, slipping her gun out and setting it in her lap, then feeling around on the side of her seat and opening a flap of cloth, slipping the gun inside before sealing it back up, as if it had never even existed in the first place. As she pulled into her space, she saw her mother standing at the top of the stairs leading to the school with two security guards who began walking toward her car. Taking a deep breath, she got out, taking her backpack out of the back seat, and got out. Locking her car as if she was totally oblivious to the security guards heading specifically for her, she walked into them and they stopped her, one asking her politely, "Miss Hume, would you please unlock your car?" She frowned but nodded, walking back over to it and twisting the key to unlock her Mustang. Both guards did a quick search and neither found anything, same went with her trunk. They thanked her and she relocked her car before walking up to the stairs to her mom and questioned, "What was that about?" Helen Hume guided her daughter inside, and Lyric resisted the urge to pull away and scream not to touch her like she had to Billy. The mother and daughter sat in her office and finally Helen asked her daughter, "Why would Brendan think you would have a gun in your car? And that you were 'dealing' to earn money?" Lyric's jaw dropped and she asked back loudly, "Excuse me what?" Mrs. Hume rubbed her temples and explained, "Brendan came to me this morning and said that you had a gun in your car and that you were dealing methamphetamines to earn money. Is he right?" Lyric laughed and choked out, "Oh my gosh, you believed him?" Her mother stayed serious as Lyric calmed down and told her mother somberly, "I picked Brendan up last night and he seemed really jittery and off last night. He was down on Market and Banks, babbling about having to pay someone, so I told him I would go do it. And I did. He was paying Heco Ramirez, Mom. Heco's one of the biggest dealers this side of the Atlantic. Brendan has been buying from him for three years, and he has a debt the size of China." Her mother was frozen and told her unsteadily, "Lyric Rose Hume, there is no reason to protect yourself by lying about your brother."

She huffed and shot, "I wouldn't. Drug dealers are pretty honest when they are talking about loyal customers and high. Anyway, I told you what I know, and whether you choose to believe it or not is your choice not mine. Can I go to Art now?" Her mother rested her head heavily in her hands and gave her only daughter a faint 'sure'. Lyric hurried out and slowed her pace as she reached the empty halls of St. Bartholomew's Catholic Academy. She pulled her phone out and texted her younger brother: Meet you by my locker thanks for warning too. As she found her locker and lent on it, she thought about Billy. He had done her a huge favor, giving her the money to give to Bones to prove her worth. And he had let her in without making her kill. Not to mention on the way to the tattoo shop, he had been almost human to her. She smiled faintly at the memory, but heard footsteps and looked to see her younger brother walking over to her. Lyric hugged him as he approached and murmured, "Thanks for earlier." Lucas shrugged and replied calmly, "No worries. But what did he tell Mom?" Lyric opened her locker and tossed her backpack in it, the shut it and started walking for Art class. Luke followed, considering they had it together, and Lyric told him, "That I had a gun in my car and that I was dealing meth." Lucas prodded, "Was that a lie?" Lyric shrugged and answered truthfully, "Gun, no. I hid it though, which is why I thank you for warning me. Dealing is a lie through. I'm just a debt collector to pay off his debts with his own dealers." Lucas stopped momentarily, then caught up and asked, "Brendan does drugs?" She nodded and said, "He's been an ice head for a good three years or so now." Lucas didn't say anything for a few moments, and then asked randomly, "Why do you always wear that wrist band? I've never seen you without it for the past year. What's up with it?" She smiled and gave a half laugh, tugging it up to reveal the black and red stars and explained, "Twenty nine stars banded around my wrist. Got them on my seventeenth birthday." Slipping down her jacket, her brother saw the black Darley mark and she told him seriously, "This one is Brendan's fault. I had to join the gang he owes. And this is their sign. Got it last night and it hurts like a bitch."

She hiked the jacket back up and Lucas commented, "At least it isn't something stupid like a snake." Lyric laughed and hugged her brother from the side, telling him, "I love you Luke." He smirked happily and replied, "Yeah, I know." They got into Art and the discussion ceased between the siblings. Lucas went back to working on a painting, and Lyric found her charcoal sketch she was working on of her family. Thirty minutes into the class, Lucas walked over and looked at it then asked, "Can I have that?" The senior looked up at her junior brother and nodded, finished some shadowing, then separated it from the rest of the pad carefully, and told him, "Hairspray it lightly and it's all yours, little brother." He smiled and did as he was told, grabbing a can of hair product and leaving to spray it outside. Lyric smiled and began letting her mind wander as she began sketching something. When Luke walked back in, Lyric smiled up at him, and looked down at her paper, shocked to see she had sketched the Darley gang sitting in their booth at the Four Roses bar. Lucas walked back over and sat next to her, questioning, "Who are they?" Lyric shrugged slightly and muttered, "My gang." Luke rested his head on her shoulder and asked her quietly, "Are you scared? When you go out and do whatever it is that you do." She gave a half smile, both siblings' eyes still at the photographic looking charcoal sketch and told him, "You know, not really. I like it, kind of. People know I'm part of the Darley gang, and they are scared of me. Plus I'm a pretty good shot, and I didn't even know it." Luke laughed a little and said, "You know, I'll always worry about you. But I'll always have your back." She leant her head gently on hers and whispered, "Yeah, I know." Moving his head, Luke propped himself on his elbows and sighed, "How do you put up with Brendan?" Lyric removed the sketch and began another, and told her brother, "Very carefully. Just ignore him and remind yourself he is usually high or coming off of one." He nodded and leant back in his chair asking another question, "Why are you working off his debt?" She laughed and shot back, "Why all the questions?" His chair's front legs hit the floor once more and he told her, "I don't know." Lucas looked over again and saw she was sketching the backs of two people, one a guy, one a girl, standing in front of a desk that a chubby looking guy sat behind.

"Who's that?" Lyric looked up at her brother and said, "Just a business deal." Luke nodded, understanding that his sister didn't want to talk about it. So he dropped it and went back to working on his painting. Lyric continued to sketch scenes of 'business deals' and scenes from Four Roses. She looked up at the clock and saw she had five minutes to pick out two pictures to turn in as her days work. Picking a portrait of Billy, and the scene at Four Roses, then walked up to Mrs. Retinnie and handed them to him and said, "Uh, here. This is what I worked on." The elderly woman picked them up gingerly and studied them, then asked her prized student, "Who are they? That's the only way you'll get you're A, Miss Hume." She laughed and simply said, "Friends. Very good friends."


	4. Stalker of the Darley's

_**Chapter Four: Stalker of the Darleys**_

Lyric sat in her car staring at the text that Jamie had so kindly sent her: _Checked Brendan's debt. Its 92 grand as of now_. She leant her head on the steering wheel, feeling tears surface. It was impossible, for her to keep working to try and pay a debt that was growing faster than she could make. Parked in front of Four Roses, her night of collections in a back pack on her passenger seat, Lyric Rose Hume sat in the driver's seat, almost in tears. For two years she had worked for Darley, bringing in thousands of dollars, putting ninety percent of what she got back to Brendan's debt, the last ten for herself, but it all went toward gas, and of course hanging out with Lucas. But ninety two grand? Sucking in a deep breath, Lyric grabbed the beat up grey bag that Billy had given her to hold her night's earnings, she strutted into the bar in a dark green tank top and navy blue skinny jeans that showed off the two little hand prints at her hips. As she thought, her boss and his gang were sitting in their usual place. Without any emotion, she chucked the bag at Billy and said nothing, then turned and headed for the door, not wanting to stay long. But Billy had other plans and barked at her, "Get back here!" Debating whether or not it was worth it, she finally decided it really wasn't, and trudged back, glaring intensely at Darley with all the pain and hate she was feeling at the moment. Jamie tossed her a sympathetic glance, but other than that, he kept on with his conversation with Spink and Tommy. Lyric slumped into the booth next to Heco like the night before, and Billy stopped a passing waitress with the order, "Can I get ten shots of Jack?"

A few minutes later, Lyric was still slumped in the booth, staring at her drink. She loved Jack Daniel's whiskey. It was one of her very favorite drinks, but tonight she wasn't in the mood to become a drunken idiot. She still had one more day to go before the weekend, and it wouldn't make a difference when she got alcohol into her system, it wouldn't help it would just numb the pain. Billy looked over at his newest gang member and asked gruffly, "What's wrong with you?" Lyric flicked her eyes up momentarily and shrugged then pushed her shot at Heco and muttered, "I owe you from last night." Heco cheered and accepted it, downing it happily. Billy watched her for a moment, then tried, "You did good with Bones." Once more, the debt collector shrugged and kept her eyes on the table, her black painted fingernails skimming over the black and white checks of her wristband. It was on the opposite wrist for once, letting everyone see her stars. She murmured something then pulled out her cell phone, shooting Maddie a text: _Need a couple more tats. Also need you to ink over some stuff. Can you give me a day and time?_ Billy went back to ignoring her and Lyric sat their awkwardly for a few moments, when Heco asked her, "What's the deal with the stars and the little handprints?" Lyric traced a few of the small stars and said lightly, "One for everyone I've known and lost. Handprints are just something personal." Her small, delicate fingers paused at two stars that were filled in with light pink instead of crimson. Heco shrugged and entered into a meaningless conversation with Spink, Bodie, and Joe. Looking around at everyone, Lyric stood once more and made to leave, only to hear Billy shout, "I never said you could leave!" She clenched her fist and spun back to face him, then told him coolly, "Well to fucking bad! I'm tired, I have had it up to here with you, this gang, and everyone, and all I want to do is be alone. So I don't give a shit if you said I could leave. You do NOT own me, and I will do whatever the hell I want to."

She stormed out to her car and slammed her door shut, not doing anything just sitting in her car, actually crying. Lyric never cried, even as a little girl, she had rarely cried. It was a sign of weakness, and Lyric did not like showing weakness. Her phone vibrated and a text from Maddie appeared: _Tomorrow at ten pm? Booked all day tomorrow, I'll ink you after hours okay?_ Lyric responded with a simple 'K' then pulled her keys out and started the ignition and took off back to the suburbs, wanting to simply forget the streets for once. Despite the fact she hated faking 'good girl' Lyric, she wasn't used to ripping away the protecting wall that she hid behind every day, all the time, for everyone who encountered her to see. She needed some time, to get used to not having that wall to hide behind when she didn't want to truly deal with people and their snobby or annoying questions. As she made it past the adjacent, abandon, run-down buildings that marked the end of the Projects and the beginning of Suburbia, she made a right rather than a left, heading for the back lot that she knew Brendan would be at. It was where the upper middle class kids did their precious ice, or weed, or even speed. The weathered, old, undisturbed lot bordered the Projects, and occasionally Heco would make a trip up there to make sure his clients were either in one piece, or to make a couple sales of his left over's before he went and picked up a fresh batch from The Office. Pulling up, she easily spotted her brother and his hockey buddies, puffing at the glass meth pipes. Tucking her Darley marked gun in her belt, she clicked the safety just in case, then got out. Brendan looked up at the sound of the car door slamming, and went white as he saw Lyric scale the rusted fence and land on their side.

The rest of his fellow tweakers looked up and one muttered, "Who's the babe?" Brendan slugged him in the arm and muttered, "That's my sister, dumb ass." Lyric walked over and stood above the seven crouched against the building wall, then smirked. Brendan watched her as the smirk turned evil, and she leant down then grabbed him and yanked him up, slamming him against a wall. With the witness of all his hockey friends, Lyric growled, "You owe Heco ninety two grand for your fucking drug? I can't pay that, you definitely can't, so who is supposed to pay it?" Brendan had never realized how strong his sister was, and continued to try and pry her hands away from his shirt and gasped, "Didn't know I owed that much!" She ripped him away from the faded and graphitized brick wall and threw him a few feet across the lot, then walked over and showed her weapon, aiming it loosely at him, then told him cynically, "Well, what sucks is that Heco don't care. He still has to pay Billy Darley. And Billy doesn't give a shit, so now I'm stuck playing debt collector for the rest of my miserable life!" Lyric kicked her brother in the ribs, earning a yelp from him, then warned him, "You better get yourself some help, Brendan, because if I find out your debt is still growing, while I'm out working my ass off, you'll be seeing Gramps very soon." Brendan nodded and stayed where he was, while Lyric snatched all the ice pipes, wrapped them in a bandana that was lying on the ground, and crushed them under her shoe. With that, she headed back toward the fence. Brendan yelled after her, "I need a ride home!" Without missing a beat, Lyric yelled back over her shoulder, "Yeah, you do!" The dirty blond jumped and latched onto the chain-linked fence, and climbed it with skill, before landing gracefully on the other side, and driving in the direction of her house.

Pulling up in front of the house, Lyric felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, so she pulled it out and saw that it was Bodie calling. Weighing the consequences, she answered her phone reluctantly, "What?" Almost instantly, instead of Bodies' voice, Billy's voice came through yelling, "Get your mother fucking ass back here! You have a job to do kid!" Lyric shrieked at him, "Do it yourself you fucking lazy ass bastard!" She pulled her phone away from her ear as he screamed back, "I told you to get back here, so fucking do it! I own you, remember!" With that, he hung up. She groaned, but got out of her car and headed into her house. Walking into the living room, she froze to see a strange woman sitting on the couch across from her parents. Her mother looked ready to pass out, and her dad's jugular vein was visible in his neck. The woman was very pretty, slender, dark skinner, hair pulled into a bun. Her blazer swung loosely and the debt collector tensed as she saw a badge. Leaning against the doorframe, Lyric asked coolly, "What's going on?" Her father simply said, "Sit down, Lyric Rose." She flinched at the use of her first and middle name, but did as she was told and sat between her parents on the off-white couch. The officer, Lyric guessed detective since she was in regular street clothing, handed Lyric a manila folder across the coffee table and said, "Someone sent these to our precinct this afternoon." Wide eyed and panicked, she opened the folder and flipped through the pictures in slight horror. The first few were of her and Billy leaving his apartment, both smiling a little, some of the few moments that she enjoyed the drug dealers company, but they ranged from over the past two years she had worked for him. Number eight showed her kissing Billy, and all the others after just showed them getting hotter and heavier, and they seemed to move from Four Roses, to Billy's car, and finally to his bedroom. It looked as if the ending pictures were taken through the window of her boss' bedroom. But all were dated the day after her eighteenth birthday.

"We believe that someone has been stalking you. Or possibly Billy," Lyric glanced up at the detective as she spoke, looking truly concerned. Closing the folder, Lyric said shakily, "Anyone could have taken most of these, if they knew about Billy and I. But very few people could take the last few. They would have to have access to the building that the window looks at." The detective nodded and asked, "How long have you seeing him, Miss Hume?" Lyric's head snapped up and she corrected quickly, "I'm not dating him. I work for him." She heard her mother take in a deep breath and her father let out an angry one. Closing her eyes for a moment, Lyric opened them then said in a stony voice neither Helen nor Nick Hume had ever heard their daughter use, "Thank you for the concern, but I can handle my own problems. I'm not as powerless as I look." As she stood up, the detective told her, "Either you cooperate with me on this, or Mr. Darley will be under arrest for rape." A chuckle made its way from her lips, and Lyric told her, "I do what I want, lady. I was eighteen, meaning I was completely legal, and having sex with Billy was my choice. So, no thank you, I do not need your help, and I can guarantee you, Billy will tell you the same exact thing. It was a one night stand, and it doesn't change the fact that I am only working for Billy, not dating him." She held out the folder for the detective to take, but the woman simply stood, proving to be taller than Lyric, and told her in an annoyed tone, "Keep them. When you decide to stop being so full of yourself, Miss Hume, your parents have my number." And with that the detective walked out of the house, leaving Lyric standing there and her parents sitting on the couch. A few tense, quiet moments passed before her mother asked, "Why didn't you let her help?" The eighteen year old stepped over her father's outstretched legs and replied, "Because the building across from Billy's apartment has been housing a surveillance team for eight months. The building is closed and the only people in it are police. She was trying to get me to help her convict him." Her father closed his eyes and asked her, "Then why didn't you help her put the bastard behind bars?" She spun around on her heel and snapped back, "Because I need my job. I've got to pay off the 92 grand that my twin brother owes!"

Without waiting for her parent's reaction, she stormed out of the house, the photo's still in her hand, and got into her car, heading back to the Four Roses. She was worried, to say the least, because now she knew that the cops were watching her, but she was also a little nervous. It had been three months since she had apparently slept with Billy, but she had been so busy, she couldn't recall if she had actually had her period or not. It was an understatement to say she was overworked, and stress just seemed to be a constant in her life, but that might not have been the reason if she had skipped her period. Changing her route to make sure she didn't pass any cops, Lyric scrolled to Maddie's name in her contacts and clicked 'Send'. After a few rings, she heard the tattoo artist's familiar voice answer, "Yeah?" Stopping at a light, Lyric told Maddie, "We've got a really huge problem." Maddie chuckled and asked, "What kind of trouble?" Shifting uncomfortably in her seat, Lyric confided in the woman, "The police were just at my house." Maddie went silent and Lyric continued, "They have pictures. A few are just of me and Billy leaving his place after I did a couple day jobs, but the rest are all from the same day." Maddie questioned, "What's so big about one day?" Taking a shaky breath, Lyric told her, "I apparently slept with Billy. About three months ago, the day after I turned eighteen." Maddie simply let out a loud and low whistle then asked, "And you found this out from cops, why exactly?" She shrugged her shoulders, forgetting Maddie couldn't see her, then replied, "I think I was drunk out of my mind, Billy must have been drunk too, and I probably can't remember waking up because when I have a hangover, I can't remember shit. Nor can I remember much from when I am drunk." Neither said anything for a few seconds, then Maddie sighed, "Well, meet me at the shop in ten." Turning onto Market Drive, she told the inker, "I have to meet Billy for a job. He called about twenty minutes ago, screaming that he owned me." Maddie chuckled and said, "Then just do what you did last time he said that: fight him. This time, though, storm out and get your pretty little ass over to my place." Lyric burst out laughing, thankful for the comedic break, and told her friend, "Alright, alright. Make it twenty though."

The two girls hung up and Lyric pulled up in front of Four Roses, taking a breath, and then sliding the folder of pictures under the passenger seat. She got out, and chanted in her head_, Be strong, be cold, be a rock. No one and nothing can touch you, you are a Darley. _Strangely, the thought of being an untouchable Darley didn't repulse her or make her want to puke; it made her even more confident. As she strolled into the bar, she was surprised to see all of the gang standing, waiting for her. Faking a yawn, she walked up to Billy and asked lazily, "Is this all really necessary or can I just go home and sleep?" Billy growled, "I say you're gonna do this, so you're gonna do it." Her expression soured, and she spat, "I do what I want! Just because you say jump, doesn't mean everyone is gonna ask how high, Darley." Just as planned, Lyric stormed off toward the door, but two strong arms wrapped themselves around her shoulders and pulled her back into a warm, rock solid body. She struggled against the iron tight grip, biting, clawing, and kicking at her restrainer, but a husky voice whispered in her ear seductively, "You do this job, I'll knock seventy grand off your brothers debt." Lyric stopped struggling a bit, savoring the thought of paying the debt within a few months, then being able to keep all of her cut, along with a dirtier thought. But then the pictures she had been given surfaced in her mind. She reminded herself giving in would mean asking how high to jump, metaphorically, so she fought the grip more and told him, "I don't care, let go of me, B-Billy!" If it had been possible for her at the moment, Lyric would have slapped herself. Not only was him restraining her and gripping her shoulders in a bruising hold driving her insane with pleasure, but it was also proving just how strong he could be, and that was impairing her speech.

Billy chuckled and asked her, "What's wrong, kid? Cat got your tongue?" Lyric's fighting got weaker as he pulled her closer, shifting his hands down on her arms a bit, but the hold was still resilient to all her struggling. The pleasure was evaporating, and now it was simply a matter of taking in a sufficient breath. His grip was crushing her rib cage, hindering her lungs from expanding enough to give her small body the air it needed to survive. Finally, she began feeling light headed, but she still fought Billy tooth and nail, until basic movement became unattainable and Lyric's body went limp in his arms, slipping to the floor. With the ability for her lungs to fully expand, Lyric coughed as air flooded her air way. In rage, she stood up and screeched, "You almost killed me!" Billy shrugged as if it were nothing and told her, "You're fine. Now come on. We're leaving." A blanket of hate fell over the room, and Lyric punched Billy straight out in the jaw, sending him stumbling to the side and to the ground. Her chest rose and fell as her body made up for the air it had lost, and she snapped. "Do the god damn job yourself." With that, she left, driving toward the tattoo shop. Tears were surfacing, but she blinked them away, scolding herself mentally for being so upset that Billy had been so heartless. Lyric reminded herself that Billy was a cold and cruel person, that it was dumb to think he was capable about caring for another person, with the exception of his brother, Joe. Lyric entered the shop fifteen minutes later, the folder pressed against her body under her jacket, heading into the back, and saw that Andy was tattooing a huge Death bat on some girl who looked twenty or so, across her chest. Smiling tiredly at him, she asked politely, "Where's Maddie?" Dipping the needle gun into more black ink, he said distractedly, "Through the curtain, up the stairs on the left." She thanked him, complimented his work, then followed the directions to find Maddie sitting on a couch in a loft type thing. Lyric dropped down next to her and pulled out the manila office folder, handed it to Maddie, then muttered miserably, "I'm fucked. Like shoot me now fucked."

In an attempt to comfort her friend, Maddie patted her lightly on the head, slightly messing up her mixed blond and brown hair. Lyric batted the hand away playfully and told her in a stony voice, "Seriously, the cops are like stalker status now." Maddie flipped open the folder and flipped through the top seven quickly but careful not to damage the photos, tossing them onto the old wooden coffee table in front of her, then picked up the remaining stack gently, flicking away the folder, and went through the pictures slowly, her eyes in taking everything with care. After nearly fifteen minutes, she said seriously, "Does Billy remember this?" Lyric made a 'psh' noise and said sourly, "If he did I doubt he'd be such a little bitch to me, or that I'd still be working for him. He almost suffocated me right in the middle of Four Roses when I tried leaving. But I punched him in the jaw pretty damn hard." Maddie went slack-jawed and she pushed, "He did what? How?" Lyric pulled her shirt up to show large purple and black bruises that had begun to form on her rib cage. A gasp left Maddie's lips and she yelped, "I'll skin him!" Lyric smiled faintly and told her, "It's fine, Mad Hatter." The tattoo artist giggled and asked, "Mad Hatter?" Lyric nodded, then confided, "We might have a bigger issue on our hands than the cops, though." Maddie understood and revealed a pharmacy bag from under the coffee table and told her, "Yeah, I figured. Even if you hadn't thought of it, I would have bought it. Better safe than sorry, right?" Lyric nodded and Maddie pointed her to the bathroom.

Five minutes later, the two sat cross legged on the couch, and Lyric closed her eyes, asking, "What's the verdict?" Maddie lent over to see whether there was a little pink plus, or a baby blue minus. Hugging her friend, Maddie muttered, "Pink plus." Lyric's eyes flew open and she snatched the pregnancy test off of the table to see for herself that, much to her despair, it was positive. Looking at Maddie with teary eyes, the barely legal girl whispered, "Help."


	5. Little Darley

_**Chapter Five: Little Darley**_

Three hours had elapsed since Lyric had been told by a home pregnancy test that she was pregnant. Out of disbelief, she had taken the second that Maddie had bought, hoping that maybe it had been a false positive or a fluke. But no, it was right. Currently, Lyric's head rested on a pillow that was in Maddie's lap, and the two girls had retrieved Maddie's chocolate stash and were watching a marathon of the cheese-ball Lifetime movies. As one ended, Lyric's phone rung for the ninth time, proving to be Billy, and Maddie asked, "Want me to just answer it?" Lyric nodded and shifted for Maddie to get up, then went back to lying on the couch staring deadly at the commercial. She really wasn't watching it, she was running the thoughts of a baby through her mind. Lyric loved children, she did. But after what had happened the summer between eighth and freshman year… The thought sent a chill through her, and she told herself firmly that she refused to let those events repeat. Right as a new movie was starting, Maddie walked back in and set the phone on the coffee table then lifted Lyric's head so that they were back in the original position. As the beginning of 'Sydney White' played, Lyric asked Maddie, "What's he say?" Not taking her eyes off the TV, Maddie responded, "He was worried when I answered, and I tried telling him you were just in a bad mood, but since Billy cares about you, he's coming over." Lyric rolled from her left side to her back and breathed, "Billy doesn't care what happens to me. I could be at the bottom of the Atlantic right now, and he wouldn't give a shit." Maddie ran her fingers through Lyric's long, dirty blonde hair and argued, "That isn't true. He would go after whoever put you there with a vengeance. Despite the cold shell, he's a sweet person. And like I've told you time and time again, he really does care about you more than a friend." Lyric rested her small hands over her flat-ish stomach, finally understanding why she has gained a bit of chub over the past week. It kind of relieved her, since she had panicked that she was over eating from the stress she had been under, trying to balance school, her brother, and working for Billy Darley.

The two girls were in the midst of booing Rachel Witchburn when Billy came thundering up the stairs, gang behind him, and all just as frantic as Billy seemed. Lyric flicked her eyes away from the screen momentarily then went back to watching the movie, not wanting to concern herself with her boss at the moment. Maddie raised an eyebrow at them, asking, "May we help you?" They all looked from one to the other, then finally all eyes fell back on the two girls, who seemed quite content sitting on the worn black couch and munching on chocolate, while booing at a movie that would continue despite their dislike of something. Billy finally asked back, "What the hell are you two doing?" Lyric turned to have her back face Billy, showing only the black of the t-shirt she had borrowed from Maddie, and Maddie replied, "Eating candy while watching a movie based off of an old fairy tale. All three of us are fine." Lyric reached and arm up and swatted blindly in the air hoping to hit her friend, and Spink asked stupidly, "Where's the third? I only see two of you." Lyric tried shifting to stop Maddie's mouth from spilling anything else incriminating, but she landed on one of her fresh bruises the wrong way and curled in slight pain, allowing Maddie to announce, "Lyric's preggers. Oh, and it's Billy's." Lyric groaned, "Maddie, you traitor!" Lyric grabbed another pillow and buried her face in it, waiting for their reaction. After a few peaceful moments, they all started yelling, then Billy roared over all of them, "WHAT?" Maddie stood up, letting Lyric's head hit the couch suddenly, and ordered, "If you aren't Billy or Lyric, get your ass downstairs." As she bustled them down, she told Billy and Lyric, "Talk to each other. Lyric, you might wanna show him those pictures." Billy stood across from her for a moment, before Lyric lifted the pillow off her face and squeaked, "H-hey." He glared at her, and she sat up, still clutching the pillow in her arms.

She motioned with her head toward the manila folder and whispered, "Police are tailing you." Billy was turning tomato red, but he walked over and grabbed the folder. He ripped the pictures out of the folder and tossed them first seven to the floor as he flipped through them. As soon as he reached the eighth one, he went slower and eventually let the last one float to the ground. By now, Lyric had curled back into a ball with her face buried in the pillow. She peeked up a little from the pillow and saw Billy completely still, a familiar look of horror written all over his face. Getting up, she walked over and crouched down, shuffling the pictures together and slipping them back into folder, then set them back onto the old oak coffee table. A few minutes passed and Lyric finally stood up and asked timidly, "Billy? Are you alright?" His head snapped up and he replied angrily, "No, I'm not alright! The police are following me, and I got you stuck in the middle of that, Joe's stupid ass girlfriend is driving me insane, Heco can't keep his deals straight, some mother fucking gang thinks they can take over my streets, my dad's a fucking retard, my mom showed up out of nowhere and wants to somehow be in my life, and I apparently fucked you and now I'm gonna have a kid!" It took about three minutes for Lyric to process all of that, and then she went and sat back on the couch, curling back up with the pillow and hiding her face in it. Billy watched her for a moment, then walked and sat down next to her, muttering, "Sorry." She looked up a little and said, "You don't have anything to be sorry for." Billy rested his head in his hands and asked awkwardly, "What do you want to do?" Shifting, she discarded the pillow and rested her chin on her knees and whispered, "I don't want to do it alone again." Lyric buried her face into her knees as Billy looked at her. Tears escaped from her eyes and the lithe girl felt a strong arm wrap around her shoulders, gently, and pull her close to Billy. He pulled her into his lap and hugged her lovingly while she cried quietly into the crook of his neck. Neither moved for several minutes, Lyric wanting to keep the illusion she might not have to be alone again, and Billy adjusting to not having to yell or scream or order the usually stubborn and outspoken young woman. Finally, Lyric lifted her head and rasped, "I should, uh, probably-"

Lyric was interrupted by Billy crashing his lips to her, his arms winding around her waist. She was shocked to say the least but after a few moments, Lyric let herself melt into the kiss, before pulling away and running into the bathroom, and puking. Someone crouched behind her and held her long sandy hair and rubbed her back. After a minute, the regurgitation stopped and whoever was behind her moved so she could rinse her mouth out. Lyric leant against the wall and slid down, sitting next to Billy. Neither said anything at all, just letting the silence engulf them, but also letting a question hang. When Billy was just about to leave, thinking that she wouldn't answer, Lyric spoke up, "Four years ago, I got pregnant. No idea who the father was, all I knew was that my parents were in Italy for six months for their anniversary, Lucas was staying with my grandparents, and Brendan was staying with one of his stupid friends, while I stayed home and did classes online." Billy looked over to see her head resting on the light blue bathroom wall, her eyes closed, but a few crystal-like tears slipped down her smooth cheeks. Another few moments of silence passed before she continued, "My twin daughters died, five hours after I gave birth to them. They were four months early, but the doctors said they were fine. Just tiny." Laughing cynically at the thought, how stupid that was, but she ended, "I miss them every single moment of my god-forsaken life. No matter how idiotic it sounds, up to that point in my life, that was the happiest moment of my life. Still is, too." Billy let the silence sink in for a moment then said, "That's not idiotic. Idiotic is Heco pushing a pull door for ten minutes straight until some old lady yelled at him." Lyric started laughing at that, trying to imaging her brother's drug dealer getting yelled out by one of Boston's elderly. After a few seconds of hysterical laughing, Lyric shifted to lie on her back, her head resting on the cold tile. She smiled up at Billy, all of a sudden feeling quite happy. It was only hormone shift, and she knew that, but they tended to work in her favor most of the time, so she usually went with them.

Billy got up and offered her a hand, which she accepted, and pulled her up, once more making Lyric feel quite short at five foot two to his six foot one. She walked over to the couch and dropped down on it, then grabbed another piece of chocolate. Thinking out loud, Lyric commented, "My parents are gonna disown me. Neat." The gang lord asked, "What's neat about being disowned?" She shrugged and bit into her chocolate, running through her options. Most definitely she would get kicked out, and there was no way she would be able to graduate considering her parents paid her tuition. But she still worked for Billy, and most definitely could afford an apartment in the Projects. Billy looked over at her and said, almost as if he was reading her mind, "You'll move in with me." Lyric scoffed and asked, "What makes you think that?" Billy glared at her and said lowly, "That's my kid too." Scooting a little farther away, she muttered, "I was just kidding. Christ." Billy shook his head and explained, "You usually fight me on every order, so I can't tell if you're kidding." Lyric crossed her legs and said, "I've never been good with authority. So, yeah, I guess I do fight most orders." The two fell into silence again, then Lyric asked, "How'd the job go?" Billy shrugged and replied, "Shot him." Lyric groaned and whined, "Man, why do I miss all the good stuff?" He laughed and told her, "You can shoot the next one." A little smile crawled onto her face and she chirped, "Kay." Once more silence fell over the two, and Lyric erased it by saying, "I can collect for a few more months. I just need a really big sweatshirt or something, and no one will know I have a Little Darley in my tummy." Billy stood up and headed toward the stairs, telling her, "I doubt that. C'mon." Lyric grabbed the manila folder and followed him down the stairs, where Maddie, Andy, and all of the guys were sitting. Maddie got up, and Lyric handed her the folder, asking, "Can you hide these? I might need them in the future." The tattoo artist walked over to a file cabinet and put them in a file, and asked back, "Well? What are you two gonna do about the baby?" Lyric settled into one of the chairs, and told them all, "Considering my parent's will disown me, kick me out, or both, I'm gonna move in with Billy." Maddie scoffed, "Yeah? Then Billy you are moving out of your apartment and into the spare one." Lyric frowned a little and Billy asked her, "Why? My apartment is perfectly fucking fine!" Maddie crossed her arms and told him, "One, because you need a bigger one if you're going to have a baby, and two, the police are watching that one." Billy grumbled something about moving being a pain, and Lyric offered, "I'll help you move."

Billy shook his head and told her, "Nah. The spare has everything already in it, I just hate having to know a new address and filing a change of address. Maddie's probably just going to redecorate it anyway. Isn't that right, Monsoon?" Maddie threw her hands in the air and asked loudly, "What is it with you people and giving me ridiculous nick names? Monsoon, Mad Hatter, Mad Man? Seriously, guys!" Lyric shrugged and said, "Mad Hatter is cool. Plus you're just as insane. I think mine fits. How does Monsoon fit?" Billy defended, "Maddie is like a force of nature! She wants something she'll fucking get it. I don't get Mad Man." Andy grumbled and admitted, "I just made that one up on the spot and I keep using it. Sorry, Mad Man, but you're stuck." Maddie grumbled but told them, "Lyric, it's almost midnight. Isn't there like a street curfew in your area?" Lyric checked her phone and swore loudly as she saw that it was past 11:45, meaning the gated community had closed down unless you were a paramedic, law enforcement, or anything along those lines. Billy offered, "You can use the spare." Maddie tossed a random piece of wadded up paper at Billy and told him, "Yeah, both you can. I'm not letting either of you in your old one until police clear out." Lyric brought her legs up and crossed them, then said, "The police have been trying for years to get Billy or one of the gang behind bars. There is no way they are clearing out." Maddie shrugged then responded, "Then there's no fucking way that you are going back in that apartment. Sorry but I am not letting either of you chance getting sent to prison." Lyric yawned a little and asked, "Where is this spare apartment? I'm tired and I'd like to get there before I fall asleep in my car." Billy pushed away from the wall he was leaning on and said, "I'll drive. Bodie can take my car. Give me your keys." She got up and cautiously handed them to him, telling her boss, "No crazy driving. I still need to get to school tomorrow." Billy took them and promised, "I'll drive like the cops are watching."

Lyric laughed at the pun, and followed him out, waving good bye to the rest of the gang. As they left the tattoo shop, the cold air hit the debt collector, seeping through the thin cotton shirt and her stretched and loved hoodie. Billy noticed her shivering as they walked the little distance, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as if it were nothing. It shocked Lyric, but she said nothing, thankful for the body heat. The pair reached Lyric's car, and Lyric slid into the passenger's seat, and instantly clicked open her glove compartment, relieved to see the Darley marked gun sitting in the same place she had left it. Billy looked over and asked, "Do you always have that thing in here?" She laughed and replied, "Nope. Usually it's on me, but I was kind of in a hurry so I left it here." Billy whistled lowly and asked again, "What about at school or whatever? Does perfect little Lyric still carry it on her?" Crossing her legs again, she ignored the sarcasm that dripped off the comment and answered, "Yup. I have a pocket in my backpack." They fell into yet another silence and Lyric simply watched the path they took, making sure to remember for future reference. It took a few minutes, but they finally made it back to an apartment building that was back to back with his usual place. He pulled into a space and they got out, and Lyric let Billy take her hand to lead her. She glanced to her left, and saw a man in street clothes taking pictures with a rather large camera. Turning back to Billy, she whispered, "We gotta a cop on us already." Billy glanced over in the same direction, and muttered in defeat, "I'll get a new apartment tomorrow. Or Maddie will." Lyric laughed at him a little and said, "I don't care." Billy gave a little smile and told her, "Yeah, but Maddie sure as hell does."


	6. Living With a Darley

_**Chapter Six: Living With A Darley**_

Lyric settled into the black leather couch, soaking in the rare peace and quiet she was experiencing for one of the first times in three months. Resting her head back, she ran through the events that had passed over the previous three months. First, she got kicked out, no surprise there. She moved in with Billy like planned and had continued collecting debts up until a month ago. Maddie had forced her to go to an OBGYN despite Lyric's numerous protests of her dislike of doctors. Billy had unfortunately taken Maddie's side, wanting to know if the baby was a boy or a girl. Lyric rested her hands gently on her swollen stomach, smiling at the thought of the little baby boy growing inside her. Billy had changed for the better over the past three months, not yelling at her as often, not grabbing her and tossing her around like she was his rag doll. He would even show affection towards her on most days, and Lyric had been a rare witness to the softer, more human side of Billy Darley. Not even his mother had experienced that. She had popped up several months ago, but only began making a nuisance of herself a few weeks ago, nosing into Lyric's pregnancy, Billy's job, and even Joe's life. Joe was only fifteen, he was still just a freshman in high school, but his plans were to join the gang and be his brother's second hand man. For now, though, Billy dropped him off at Boston Academy, he somehow got home, and helped her out. It wasn't anything big, but for Lyric it removed some stress from her daily life, which was big for her. Billy's younger brother was incredibly excited about being an uncle, and he did whatever he could to help, and that included keeping his mom away from her, by either answering the door then slamming it in her face, or answering the phone and telling her to fuck off, he kept Ms. Brittney Tolbert at bay.

Lyric's precious quiet was broken by the door slamming closed, and she looked up to see Billy storming into the apartment, looking quite red in the face, followed by an agitated Joe, who was almost as vividly red as his older brother. Billy dropped onto the couch and buried his head into the crook of her neck, something that had become habit for the gang lord since two months ago when Bones had threatened Lyric and his unborn son's lives for slacking off. Ever since, he had been bringing in more that Bones was hoping for, but he didn't let Billy in on that. Joe dropped into a matching black leather chair adjacent from the squishy couch, kicking his feet onto the coffee table that only held a few random papers, and a couple pictures that Lyric wanted to frame and hang up, or something along those lines. After a few minutes of tense silence, she asked the two Darleys, "What's up? Do I get to shoot anyone at all? Please say yes." Billy laughed quietly against her neck, then muttered, "Maybe, babe." Joe laughed too and told her, "Just some guys from B Street are acting up. Same with the Hall. They're just some smart ass punks, but they're annoying as hell no joke." Lyric chuckled and asked playfully, "So, it has nothing to do with Laney?" Joe groaned and whined to her, "Do not even remind me about Laney! I swear I was possessed!" Lyric laughed at his pain and finally asked seriously, "For real, though. Some punk ass tweaks from the Hall and B Street don't get the Darley boys this riled up. What's really going on? You know you have to tell me what's up on the streets because apparently I'm not allowed there anymore." Billy kissed her neck than sat up and told her for the millionth time, "Bones already threatened you once, I'm not gonna give him the fucking chance to actually go through with it."

She sighed, but didn't push the matter, knowing full well that Billy was right. He sighed and told her, "Dog and Tommy spotted Wallis down by B Street. Jake said that none of his guys were in the area, and I believe him, but that just means we have cops on us again. It makes everything harder than it needs to be." Lyric clenched her fist at the thought of Detective Jessica Wallis, the same woman who had first come to her house three months ago with the photos. Billy got up and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a beer for himself and one for Joe, then a soda for Lyric. He walked back into the living room, tossing Joe the alcoholic beverage and handing the silver can to Lyric who cheered a little and easily pried open the metal top with her teeth, earning yet another laugh from Joe, who thought her habit of opening cans with her teeth was hilarious. Lyric smiled and took a sip before trying to lean over and set it down. Billy quickly caught on and did it for her. She smiled brightly at him and told them, "Just remember that Wallis only knows about the bridge and Graffiti Tower. Just cut all the deals from there and send some of Bones' mechanics to clear out the tweaks and customers." Billy stayed silent before asking, "Why are you so damn smart, baby girl?" She smiled and was about to answer when her phone began screaming 'Time to Dance', and Lyric snatched it up to see a text from Maddie: _Baby doctor tomorrow at 11 am. No arguments_. She groaned and heard Billy tell her, "You'll be fine. I'll be here when you two get back tomorrow." Sighing, she dropped the subject and tried leaning forward to grab her soda, in which she failed.

Bodie, Baggie, and the others walked in at that moment, and Lyric asked, "What's up?" Bodie looked over at Billy and told him nervously, "We need to have Lyric collect a debt. Some woman named Michelle Williams. Works at Starfish Inc." Lyric grumbled and sighed, "Yeah, she fucking works with my dad. God damn it! Joe, get my gun, Bodie get me my white hoodie vest, Tommy get my phone off the table, Jamie get my iPod from the kitchen, and Billy help me up! Who's driving?" Billy stood up and argued, "I'll do it! Why does she need to?" Lyric yelled, "Because I know the bitch, Billy! My God, I'm pregnant not comatose!" He shouted at her, "I said I'll do it! Just stay the fuck here!" Lyric pushed herself up and hollered, "Why are you so damn stubborn? It's my fucking job, let me fucking do it! Why won't you let me?" Billy was turning red, and he screamed, "Because I fucking said so! Just stay here with Joe." Bodie cleared his throat and clarified, "Uh, the reason we need Lyric to do it is she can get into the building. She's Nick Hume's daughter, and it isn't weird for her to visit her dad." Lyric smirked and purred, "See? Let me do my job. If it makes you feel better you can come too." Billy glared at her and growled, "Fine. I swear if you weren't the only one who could get it, you wouldn't be doing this." Lyric glared back at him and said harshly, "Not on your life. I can still collect cash, Darley. You do NOT fucking own me." Lyric turned on her heel and walked back into their bedroom, and grabbed a sleeveless sweatshirt, pulling it on to hide her relatively swollen belly then walked into the kitchen and opened the drawer next to the sink, and removed the shiny silver gun, messing a little with it to make sure it was fine to use. Billy lent against the door jam, watching her, and sighed, "I wish you would just let us get her after she gets to the parking garage. It'll be a lot safer." Lyric kept her eyes on her gun as she reloaded it and told him coolly, "Well, that could be messy. I can get it done without a fuss and without her making a scene. She's a VP and that means if I threaten to tell my dad, she'll lose her job, and she will pay more easily that you cornering her."

Lyric felt bad for being cold to Billy, but he needed to know that he couldn't control her. No one could, and no matter what happened, she would never let anyone control her. Brushing past him, she took her phone from Jamie and ordered, "Alright, let's go!" They all started walking out, but Billy's arms wrapped around her middle and told them, "We'll meet you down at the cars." Bodie nodded and closed the door after they all filed out. Billy hugged her closer and whispered, "Babe, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to control you." Lyric stayed silent, running her hands through her hair newly dyed blond hair. She couldn't stay mad at Billy, she had figured that out a couple of months ago, but that didn't change the fact that he couldn't control her and he needed to know that. The eighteen year old sucked in a sharp breath as Billy pressed his lips to her neck, and then murmured, "Please forgive me, Lyric." After a moment, she sighed, "Fine." He smiled against the pale skin of her neck and said, "I'll make it up to you later." The soon-to-be mom smirked at the though and urged him, "C'mon. We only have an hour till my dad's office lets out." As they left the apartment, Billy grabbed her hand and the pair walked down the hall to the elevator, rode the minute long ride down to the lobby from their twelfth story apartment, and went out to meet the gang. Billy and Lyric took her car while Bodie, Joe, Spink, and Tommy took Billy's and Jamie, Dog, Baggie, and Heco took Bodie's. Billy pulled out first, Lyric giving him directions to her father's office. As they sat at a light, Lyric asked him suddenly, "Billy, what are we?" Glancing at her for a moment, he asked back at her, "What do you mean 'what are we'?" Lyric rested her head back on the head rest and explained, "I mean, what are we, as a pair? Because if we're just friends or whatever, I'd like to know." Billy hit the gas as the light turned neon green, and told her, "You're my girl, Lyric. Not just my debt collector or the only girl in the gang. Sorry if that isn't what you want, but I'm not changing my mind." She smiled and little and reassured him, "That's exactly what I wanted."

As they pulled up in front of the huge, windowed building, Lyric told him, "I'm going to bring Joe and Tommy in with me. They look normal enough to get away with being my friends. We'll take her to the top floor of the parking structure behind here. Meet us there, and you can collect there." Billy nodded and told her neutrally, "Make it fast." Nodding, she got out and walked over to Bodie's car and said, "Joe, Tommy get out. You're coming with me. Joe, ditch the jacket, Tommy get rid of the hat." They did as they were told and walked toward the building, the three cars behind them left to head for the parking garage. Lyric tucked her gun into the waistband of her jeans, in the back, then pulling her sleeveless hoodie over it, and she pulled the hood up a little, then glanced back at the boys, who quickly did the same, pulling their shirts over the weapons to conceal them. As they walked into the building, Lyric guided them over to the security desk and the eighteen year old told the security guards, "I'm here to visit my father, Nickolas Hume, with Starfish Inc." The man nodded and told her, "Let me call him to tell him." Before he could pick up the phone she stopped him, "I want to surprise him. My friends, Joe and Tommy, and I all got offered scholarships to a very prestigious art school this afternoon, and I thought it would be a nice little surprise for my dad." The man smiled and waved them by, and Lyric smirked with her back to him, leading Joe and Tommy to the elevator. As they rode up, Tommy and Joe glanced at each other with the same thought: this girl enjoyed her job way too much. As the slick shiny doors slid open to her father's floor, Lyric yanked the boys out and ducked, just as her father's friend David walked by. The three wound their way through the mostly empty cubicles, Lyric making sure to avoid the security cameras. As they reached the glass fronted office of their victim, the blond glanced to the ceiling of it, and to her relief, there were no security cameras. She knew the building had a few already installed, and that Starfish was too cheap to install any extra, so that meant limited security and all access for thugs like herself. Joe and Tommy opened the double doors and Lyric walked in, Joe and Tommy falling in behind her, making it seem as if Lyric was their boss and not just their boss' girlfriend. The woman looked up and gulped loudly, recognizing Tommy as a gangster, and Lyric. But unlike security, Michelle knew that Lyric had been kicked out of her father's house. Smiling cynically, Lyric said, "Imagine my shock when I find out from my boys that I get to collect a loan debt from one of the VP's at my dad's job. And five hundred? I nearly passed out in shock! Even some of our chronics don't owe that much!" Lyric strolled casually around the spacious office, glancing at pictures and other things hanging on the wall.

After a bit of silence, Lyric sat in a chair in front of Michelle Williams' desk and pulled the shiny gun from her jeans, placing it on her lap, and told the scared woman, "Now we can do this two different ways. Either we can do it here, and make a huge scene about a pregnant eighteen year old and two thugs walking out of her with five hundred grand in cash, or you can take a little walk with us, and you can pay us where no one has to know. And your choice is?" The woman looked over Lyric's shoulder, then stammered, "I-I guess we-we're taking a wal-walk." Lyric smiled and stood, tucking the gun back into her jeans, and said in a sickly sweet voice that made people squirm, "Ice heads first, Ms. Williams." The older woman stood up, running her hands through her brown and blonde streaked hair, then grabbed a bulky looking brief case, and walking out from behind her desk. Before the four left, Lyric told the three others, "Down the stair case to the fourth floor, then take the door out to the parking garage." Joe walked out first, taking the same path they had to the glass fronted office, and then went Michelle, after her Tommy, and finally Lyric, who pulled her hood up more, trying to stay low and avoid her father seeing her. Tommy slowed a little and muttered, "Old dude in the office to the left is staring." Her blue eyes glanced over, and, to her horror, she saw her father. Lyric huffed and ordered Tommy, "You and Joe take her out. Everyone else is on the top floor waiting. Tell Billy, I have family matters to take care of, and give me like fifteen minutes to deal with my dad." He nodded and followed the other two, while Lyric changed her course and walked over to her dad's office and walked in. Nick Hume glared at her and asked, "What the hell are you doing with my senior VP?" Lyric Hume glared back and replied smartly, "I'm doing my job: collecting a debt. We'll just need her for like ten minutes while she pays up, then poof, we're gone. Happy, dad?" Her father stood up and argued, "Why don't you wait until it's after hours? You'd only have to wait for a half hour." Lyric scoffed and pushed, "Right, when she can just leave and leave us short five hundred grand. I don't think so. Listen, I'm a little short of patience right now, and currently you're making it a hell of a lot worse. Just let me do my damn job, and get over yourself." Nick Hume picked up his phone and said, "I'm calling security." She smirked and told him, "Well that's great dad. So I take it you don't need that VP back? I'll let Billy know that she's expendable then." He stopped dialing and set the phone back on the receiver and threatened, "I swear, if you kill her-"

"My God, chill. Would you get over yourself already? Life isn't this perfect little picture like you wish it was. It's dirty, messy, and fucking ugly. Here's a great example: you're perfect little son Brendan is a drug addict, I'm pregnant with your grandson and you want absolutely nothing to do with either of us, Lucas is this amazingly talented artist but you're so concerned with the ice head son that you can't just see that for one minute, and mom is trying to be the neutral party, but that's pretty hard when you're letting Brendan do whatever he wants, and ignoring Lucas, and you've disowned me! How fucking stupid are you that you can't see that your family is broken and messed up, just like almost every other family in the world? Do you know how fucking hard it was for me to just barely catch your attention at home? I had to be the mature one, the valedictorian, this picture perfect person that I'm not! Then finding out Brendan owed the most deadly gang in town over thirty grand for a brain rotting drug? I protected mom and Lucas and Brendan and you, going through hell and back every single fucking day for two years to do that! I make one little mistake and you through me out on my ass! Yet you just seem to over look all the times Brendan has come home high out of his brains, babbling on about something ridiculous! Pull your head out of the clouds, Dad, and figure it out already," Lyric screamed at him, drawing attention from everyone. Tears were trickling down her face and she turned and ran out, yanking open the door to the stair well and slamming it closed. She took the stairs as fast as she could at six months pregnant, and after a couple flights, ran into Billy, who was running up them. He saw her crying and pulled her into a hug, letting her sob into his shirt. Finally, Lyric pulled back, and whispered, "Let's go." She started down and Billy followed, asking, "What happened? Tommy said you had to deal with your dad." Lyric just said icily, "I don't want to talk about it." Billy let it slide, seeing how agitated she was and the two walked down to the fourth floor, taking to door out to the parking garage, where the guys were waiting, Michelle Williams nowhere to be seen. Lyric didn't care, and she knew that the woman was probably in the trunk of Bodie's car. They all climbed back into the same cars they had come in and pulled out, the only difference being Joe in Lyric and Billy's car. Silence passed and Lyric rested her head on the head rest, a sudden wave of exhaustion hitting her.

The three pulled up into the regular space, and both Darley boys looked to see Lyric completely passed out in the passenger seat. Joe looked from her to his brother and asked, "Dude, what are you gonna do?" Billy looked at his funky haired teenage brother and asked back, "What the hell do you mean? Why does everyone keep asking me stuff like that?" Joe shrugged and clarified, "Like, what are you gonna do about you and Lyric? We both know that she can't just be your girl forever, Bill." Billy leant his head back on the head rest and sighed, "I know that, Joe. Lyric's not a regular chick, though. What the hell am I supposed to do?" The fifteen year old rested his elbow on the edge of Lyric's seat and said, "Marry her." Billy turned his gaze to the wall in front of them, and explained, "Joey, Lyric's different. Most girls, if you knocked them up, they'd either get the hell out of dodge or headlock you into wedlock. Lyric, though, she's a mystery to me, man. One minute she is pushing me to the edge, defying me at every corner and going off the handle at the simplest of things, the next she's this happy, smiling girl who I can't get enough of. We're either at each other's throats or just a regular couple. I don't even fucking know how were gonna live together for the next three months let alone a kid." Joe shrugged and said, "Well you're usually the one who makes her go for your throat. She's already made it clear she won't let you control her, so stop ordering her around and making decisions for her. Just marry her, Billy." Billy shook his head and told him, "I'll think about it. Now help me get her out."


	7. Another Little Darley

_**Chapter Seven: Another Little Darley**_

"Hell no. Not in a million years, no frigging way," Billy stated, shrugging off his brown leather trench coat that he wore every day. Lyric leant on the door frame, watching him, and then sighed, "Come on, Billy. It's just one little dinner. I only agreed because I am going to be a sarcastic bitch and make her sick of me, and you can be cruel, cold blooded, street running Billy the entire time. She'll get the hell out of our life then. I do not want that woman to be anywhere near my son when he is born." Billy nodded and pulled the plain black t-shirt off, and finally gave in, "Fine. But Joe is coming to and he needs to be that obnoxious teenage bastard he is at school." Lyric chuckled and nodded, then told him, "Wear a shirt that shows ink. I'll go tell Joe to get ready." Billy started digging through a drawer and Lyric left the room, and then walked into Joe's. He was flipping through a book, and Lyric could only assume he was doing the miniscule studying for a test. She knocked on the open door and told him, "Get something clean on. We're going to your mom's for dinner and Billy wants you to be an obnoxious brat." Joe twisted his face in confusion and asked, "Why?" She shrugged and answered, "We just want her to get the hell out of our lives. I'm going to be a sarcastic bitch, and Billy is gonna be… well Billy and you get to be a pain in the ass little bugger. Oh and wear something that shows ink." She left and walked back into her and Billy's room, to see him in the middle of switching jeans. Lyric laughed at them, noticing they had multiple blood stains on them, none of the donors Billy or herself. Billy looked up at his girlfriend, smiled and told her, "You said to be cold blooded. What better way to be that then wearing bloody jeans?" The blond shrugged and walked over to the closet, finding a green camisole that would show off the Darley mark on her back, and then some maternity skinny jeans.

Billy lounged on the bed, watching as she switched shirts, then asked her, "How're things with your brother? The littler one, not the one on drugs." She looked over her shoulder and replied, "Alright. We talked earlier this morning, and he said he got suspended for telling a senior to go fuck himself because he was calling me a slut. I was quite proud of him." Billy chuckled and offered, "He can come down here whenever he wants. And if he gets kicked out like you, he is welcome to share a room with Joe." Lyric smiled and told him, "I know. Come on, get up, we gotta go." Joe was waiting for them in a grey wife and his normal red leather jacket, and Lyric turned off all the lights in the rather large apartment, and the three left, heading down to Billy's car. As they reached it, Lyric hissed at the sight of Detective Jessica Wallis leaning on it. Billy clenched his fist, and Joe glared, both boys stepping in front of Lyric who huffed slightly at the action. Billy growled, "What the hell do you want?" Lyric walked over to the passenger side door that the officer was leaning on and yanked it open, sending the taller woman stumbling into the empty spot adjacent the car. Wallis glared at Lyric who got into the car, then told Billy, "Michelle Williams disappeared from her office five days ago. We have witnesses who say that your little brother, your girlfriend and one of your friends were in the office." Billy lightly pushed Joe by the head to get in the car, which he did, and the gang lord said, "She paid us the money she owed, we let her leave and she headed for the stair well. Now, could you stop annoying me and my family? I'd hate to file a police report. That's just a pain." Detective Wallis frowned and shot back, "Would you like me to take you and your family down town for questioning? Because I can arrange that." Lyric opened her door and ended, "No you can't. You do not have physical evidence that we had anything to do with her disappearance. Nor video evidence. You just have a bunch of people who say she left with us and that I had a screaming match with my biological father." Billy smirked and said teasingly, "Have a nice day, Detective." And with that, He got into the car and pulled out, leaving Jessica Wallis standing in the parking garage.

No one said anything at all until they hit Main, and Lyric exploded, "I hate that woman! I want her at the bottom of the ocean!" Joe squirmed and tried, "Calm down. Like you said, she can't do anything." Billy shrugged a bit and muttered, "I agree with Lyric. The bitch needs to be knocked down a few levels." The blond smiled in triumph and purred, "That could be arranged." Billy smirked and pulled up in front of a house that looked much like Lyric's family's house, just in a different area. Lyric looked disgusted, Joe was ready to bolt, and Billy was ready to start shooting. The three got out and Billy wrapped an arm around Lyric, who just glowered at the house, as if looking at it in hate would make it vanish. Joe knocked and a little blond girl who looked about ten answered. Joe and Lyric went slack jawed and Billy almost passed out when a woman walked up behind her and squealed, "Oh, good you're here!" Joe blinked dumbly and Lyric grumbled, "Yeah, yeah, big deal. Can we get this over with?" In irritation, Lyric shoved Joe and Billy into the house then followed, muttering something about gasoline and a lighter. They followed the bubbly blond woman into the kitchen, where a blond haired man sat with three other little children scattered at random, two others blond, the other one brunette, and all of them girls. Billy whispered so that only Lyric could hear, "Thank god you're having a boy." Lyric giggled and nodded, knowing that Billy wasn't one for being soft and fuzzy. But she had a feeling that if she ever did have his daughter, he might change, but she kept that little theory private. If Lyric had to guess she would assume that the three in the kitchen were around seven, five, and eleven. After a minute of standing there awkwardly, Billy cleared his throat and told his mother, "At eight, we've got to go." Brittney Tolbert frowned and asked him in a slightly whiney voice, "Why?" Lyric felt a little tug at her jeans and looked down to see the five year old standing there, her arms stretched up, in the want to be lifted up. She smiled and obliged, picking the little brunette up and balancing her on her hip best she could at six months pregnant. Billy smiled a little at his girlfriend holding half sister, and then replied, "B-Street and the Hall are coming to pick up their shipments tonight, and Bones wants to make sure Heco didn't screw up another batch." Brittney gulped but nodded. The man, who had yet to say anything, stood up and introduced himself, "I'm Ted." He offered his hand, which both Billy and Joe ignored and Lyric followed suit, but did say, "I'm Lyric. Joe's the one with the bizarre hair, and the other one is Billy." The one who answered the door skipped over to Billy and said in a high pitched voice, "I'm Maybelline." Lyric choked on laughter, and Joe tried not to laugh, but suddenly the little one Lyric was holding sung out, "Maybe it's Maybelline." Lyric and Joe started howling in laughter, and the five year old smiled at it, earning a glare from her sister.

Brittney frowned and scolded her daughter, "That was not nice, Tyler. Go sit in time out this minute. And do not come out until I say so." The little five year old squirmed out of Lyric's hold, shrugged, then picked up her picture book and hurried into the living room. The oldest girl rolled her eyes at her youngest sister, and then said, "I'm Annemarie." The last one chirped, "Eloise." Lyric ignored the three little blonds and walked into the living room to see Tyler curled up in a corner with her picture book, and a few tears on her cheeks. Automatically, Lyric wanted to kill Brittney. The blond waddled over to the small girl and asked, "What are you reading?" Tyler looked up and whispered, "Froggy goes to school." Lyric noticed that the corner Tyler had been sent to was almost hidden, the couch blocking most of the view of it and then the fireplace that just made it look painful. Billy walked into the living room and muttered, "I don't like this." Lyric nodded in agreement and she asked Tyler, "Does your mom send you to timeout a lot?" Tyler glanced up and nodded, then buried herself in her book once again. Lyric got down on her knees and moved Tyler's sleeve a bit and what she saw almost made her scream. Tyler's little wrists were bruised from someone grabbing them, and they looked painful. Tyler stayed in her little ball, not looking at either Billy or Lyric. Billy called for Joe who walked in and Billy told him quietly, "Take Tyler up to her room, and have her pack a bag. I am not letting our little sister stay here and be treated like this." Joe didn't question his orders, and maneuvered the little kindergartener out of the corner with some difficulty, but when Lyric and Billy saw the two walking up stairs, the couple stormed back into the kitchen and immediately, Lyric yelled at Brittney, "Are you fucking insane? You can't treat your daughter like that! It's neglect and abuse!" Billy was turning tomato red, and Brittney yelled back, "It's called tough love and Tyler needs to learn she can't back talk and be rude!" Lyric and Brittney argued for several minutes until Billy roared over the two mothers, "ENOUGH!" Lyric shut up as Billy continued, "I will not let you treat my sister like that! She's coming with Lyric, Joe, and I! If you have a problem with that, call the police! But I'm not going to leave her hear to suffer because your such a fucking screwed up bitch that you can't see your own daughter is absolutely miserable here!" Lyric glared and Ted said, "I'll get her car seat for you." Lyric followed him to the garage while Billy and his mother continued to scream at each other. While Ted was wrestling to get the child's seat out of the SUV, Lyric asked him, "Why are you willing to let us take your daughter? You don't even know us."

Ted paused and answered, "Because you're right. Brittney was so unhappy when she saw that Tyler had brown hair and green eyes instead of blonde hair and blue eyes. I love my daughter, absolutely, but I am working most of the week and weekend because I have to support three other girls, plus a shopaholic wife and I can't care for Tyler the way she should be cared for. You've been here maybe ten minutes, but you already care about her the way Brittney should. And that's why I know you'll take good care of my little girl." He finally managed to get the seat out and Lyric nodded, touched that this man was prepared to do what was best for his daughter even if it hurt him. She followed him into a study and he told her, "I'll give you all her paperwork, school information, that sort of stuff. All you have to do is go to her school and change our information to yours and Billy's. If they need to tell them to call me at my office." Lyric once more nodded as he put papers into a manila folder, then walked back out to the front hall, where Joe was waiting with Tyler, who was still curled in his arms, and Billy who was redder than a boiled lobster. Ted handed the car seat to Billy, and the folder to Lyric, then Brittney walked in and shrieked, "Ted what the hell are you doing? I called the police already!" Ted sighed, rubbed his temples and told her, "Brittney, we both know that they can give Tyler a better home. What is so wrong with your son taking care of her?" Her jaw went slack and Lyric took the opportunity to guide the others out the door. While Billy and Joe struggled to get the car seat put into the back, Lyric holding a very tired Tyler, the cops arrived, and none other than Detective Jessica Wallis with them. Ted walked down the steps and told them, "Officers, can I help you?" Detective Wallis made her way toward Lyric, but Ted skillfully intercepted her, and Wallis told him, "We received a call from your wife saying that Mr. Darley was trying to take your daughter." Ted shook his head and explained, "Brittney is being stubborn. Billy and Lyric can provide Tyler with a better home and I am perfectly willing to let them take her with them. I admit, Tyler doesn't receive as much attention here as she should, and I believe it will be better emotionally and financially for them to take care of her." Tyler looked up a little at Lyric and asked, "Are they gonna make me stay here?" Lyric hugged the small girl and told her reassuringly, "I promise, I won't let them." Tyler smiled and went back to sleeping lightly on Lyric's shoulder. Wallis tried, "You'll have to fill out some paperwork down at social services to do that-"

Ted cut her off, "And we will. Now if you'll excuse us, we have family matters to take care of." An officer pulled the angry detective away from the Darley's. Joe finally climbed into the back with Tyler and buckled her into the car seat, Lyric got into the front, and Billy got into the driver's seat. Before they left, Ted told them he would take care of all the paper work and not to worry about the social services. It was a half hour drive back to the apartment and Tyler fell asleep in her car seat, using Billy's jacket as a blanket. The three were walking down the hall after the short elevator ride and Billy was holding his little sister easily as she slept. While they were walking into the apartment, Billy asked, "So we went to annoy my mother out of our life, but instead we came home with my five year old half sister?" Lyric smiled as they laid the little girl down on Joe's bed, who had offered to take the floor until they could get her a bed. Pulling the covers over her tiny body, Lyric chuckled, "Pretty much, yeah."


	8. Plans for a Darley

_**Chapter Eight: Plans for a Darley**_

Lyric groaned as she felt little hands tugging at her arm, then heard a little voice whisper, "Mommy, Lu-Lu got colored on his face, but not like you and Daddy." And she was up, best as she could be at almost seven months pregnant. Her now brown hair was up in a messy bun and she shoved herself up, letting her daughter, now legally her daughter, lead her to the living room to see her youngest brother sitting on the couch as Joe brought him ice. Billy was nowhere to be found, but she could only guess he was on the streets or at the bar. Lucas looked over to see Lyric, who immediately gritted her teeth.

Not only did her brother have a black eye, he had a split lip and a bruise on the other side of his face. Tyler hurried to Lucas and climbed onto his lap, cuddling into him and falling asleep. As Lyric walked around the couch, she spotted the microwave in the kitchen and saw it was two fifteen in the morning. The eighteen year old tilted his head and sighed, "What happened Luke?" Lyric wished that she could say this didn't happen often, but with Lyric no longer in school, it happened much too often. She was very close to filing an abuse report, and gaining custody of her brother. It was like gaining custody of Tyler, but they had managed to avoid the abuse report, and simply blackmail Billy's mother with it to get the small brunette.

Lucas shrugged and told her, "Brendan came home high. Mom and dad were asleep." Lyric rubbed her hand over her eyes and dropped onto a chair, while Joe told the other Hume to hold still while he fixed his lip, again. Lyric watched as her boyfriend's brother, who had become like her own brother, tended to her biological brother. They had become good friends, which Lyric was thankful for, and more than once or twice, Joe and Lucas had spent after school and weekends playing video games and doing whatever else teenage boys did, together. Lyric lent her head in her hand, watching the three minors. She was sure Billy wouldn't have a problem if they took Luke in; Tyler was pretty much convinced that Lucas was her brother like Joe was, and didn't understand why he had a different home.

Almost on cue, the front door opened and closed, and Lyric looked over the back of the couch to see a very angry Billy Darley. It didn't help that he saw a bruised Lucas in the living room either. Tyler looked up from her place on the couch and smiled, running over and hugging Billy around his legs. And instantly, Billy began to calm down. Lyric's private theory had been correct; Billy had softened up for the tiny brunette girl with no fear of the gang, or of Billy. The red that he had entered with was fading quickly, and as he picked his half sister-turned-daughter up, Lyric asked in him, "What's wrong?"

Billy looked over at the brown haired woman on the chair, green eyes half on him, half glazed with sleep. He had no doubt she had been woken up because of Lucas, and he hated that this was at least the third time it had happened this week. She was dealing with more things than any female with a child on the way should. Billy liked Lucas; he thought that the kid had potential to be a part of the Darley gang. Despite Lyric not being thrilled that her brother was a gang candidate, at least it was the Darley gang, and she could keep an eye on him. And Lucas seemed to like the idea of being a part of the most feared gang in Boston as well.

Shifting Tyler a bit, he placed her back on the couch with Luke and Joe and nodded his head towards the kitchen, and as soon as he helped her up, they walked into the kitchen. Joe must have caught on and flipped the TV on, distracting Tyler for the time being. Billy leaned against a counter and finally said in a low voice, "Wallis put a request in to have divers search the bottom of the bay. I don't know how, but the judge is making a ruling on it tomorrow, well later this morning."

Lyric felt her blood freeze over, but kept a level head and asked, "When did you last use it?" Her well had paranoia prevented her from using 'the bay as a dump site', because for all she knew Wallis was on the goddamn fire escape listening. And she was pretty sure Wallis would pull some stunt like that to get a conviction on Billy Darley. The woman had gone as far as trying to pull Tyler out of school under the pretenses the area they lived in was unsafe. The school now had a much stricter policy of pulling students out after that little fiasco.

Billy shrugged, which did not comfort Lyric, and guessed, "Maybe last week. Could have been a few days ago, but we've been using the refinery line." That made her feel better. Nodding, she paused as her son kicked her, flinching from the strong kick, before telling Billy, "Then the bodies should be more than decayed enough to prevent them from getting any evidence for a while, if at all. But no more dumping in the bay, start using the gulch. Plenty of animals to eat someone."

Billy nodded, but was still tense. Wallis would go as far as messing and faking evidence to try and put him in prison, or on death row. For once in his life, Billy was actually worried. He refused to leave his family; he wouldn't let Wallis take him away from Joe, from Tyler and Lyric, from his unborn son or even Lucas, who had become another Joe to Billy Darley. The gang lord was pulled from his thoughts as Lyric rested a hand on his arm and assured him, "Everything is going to be fine, Billy. No one is messing with us."

Looking into her green eyes, he just nodded again and said tiredly, "I'm holding you to that, Lyric. So what's up with your brother?" Lyric sighed and shook her head, resting it on Billy's chest before telling him, "Stupid Brendan is coming home high as a mother fucking kite. Beat up Lucas."

Billy frowned. He felt his temper spark. No one messed with his family, especially not the druggies that he sold too. Resting his head on top of hers, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and asked her, "What you wanna do about it?" He knew what he wanted to do; Billy wanted to kill the druggie and keep Luke. But he wasn't sure Lyric would agree with that, after all, the druggie in question was her twin brother, but then again, Lucas was her baby brother. Leaning more on Billy, she mumbled, "I dunno, what are you thinking of?" He could either tell her exactly what he was thinking or he could just shrug and keep himself out of possible trouble.

But Lyric was good at calling him on his lies, so he took a breath before sighing, "Kill your twin, to protect Luke." Like Billy expected she pulled away. But the look he didn't expect. She was giving him a look of consideration before shaking her head and replying sadly, "Too dangerous. How would you do it anyway?" He stared at her, shocked she was considering this, but he recognized that transition from his Lyric to his street Lyric. She was considering all options to protect her baby brother, much like Billy would for Joe.

Running a hand over his buzzed hair, he shrugged and offered up, "Joe's ready for an in, he's close with Luke, and wouldn't have a problem." Lyric chewed on her lip thoughtfully before reminding them both, "My dad might be a problem. I'm sure that my dad would ban Lucas from having anything to do with me, let alone you." Billy shrugged and argued, "Or, he might not even pay attention. If your twin brother is such a golden boy, the center of your dad's world, then would he even be able to function? I mean, he disowned you, he doesn't seem to be torn up over it, but Brendan?"

Lyric nodded slowly, rubbing her stomach as the baby kicked again, and finally consented, "Don't tell me anything, but I'm not against the idea. Just be careful, last thing I need is Wallis on our case." He nodded and watched as another wince came from his girl. Frowning, Billy asked her, "You okay?" He doubted that it was normal, for her to be in pain from 'a kick'. Unless his kid inherited his muscle, but that seemed unlikely. Brushing her hair out of her face, she just nodded, telling him, "Yeah, just not liking the kicking of my rib cage from the inside."

Before Billy could push it, Tyler wandered in and told her parents in a loud whisper, "Jo-Jo and Lu-Lu are sleeping." Lyric smiled at how cute the little girl was and told her in the same loud whisper, "That's okay, Lu-Lu and Jo-Jo are very tired." Tyler giggled and hugged her mommy's legs, then her daddy's before running back to the living room. As the two gang members followed, they nearly laughed at Joe asleep on Lucas, and Tyler wiggling between them, before falling asleep herself. The little girl was probably one of the best things that had happened to Lyric, and to Billy. Finally, lyric yawned and told Billy she was headed back to bed, and to wake her up at six, and to make sure the entire gang was there.

He watched the eighteen year old girl vanish into the room they shared, and couldn't help but smile. For the first time in a long time, Billy felt safe. This was his family, and this was what he was living for now. After turning off the TV, putting a blanket awkwardly on the three kids on the couch, he returned to his room, took off his jacket and shirt, pants and boots and tossing them somewhere before climbing into bed with Lyric, instantly falling asleep.


End file.
